Islanders Without Barzal vs. Sabres, Lineups & Notes

Barzal suffered an upper-body injury against the Columbus Blue Jackets and is back on Long Island getting evaluated by team doctors.

Stefen Rosner, David Kolb, The Elmonters, and Matthew Page

Nov 01, 2024

BUFFALO—After losing their last three regulation games, the New York Islanders (3-5-2) head upstate to face the Buffalo Sabres (4-5-1). Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 p.m., and the game can be seen on MSGSN.

Buffalo took the season series from New York 2-1-0 last season, with the home team winning all three games. The Islanders defeated the Sabres in their season opener at UBS Arena last October, but Buffalo won their two games at KeyBank Center.

UPDATES & LINEUP:

Forward Mathew Barzal (upper body) is back on Long Island and is getting evaluated by team doctors. There’s no timetable at this time, but we do know the injury occurred during the last game.

Here’s the hit where the injury likely occurred:

Here’s Stefen Rosner’s column on how Barzal’s absence affects the team at 5-on-5 and the power play:

Defenseman Alexander Rmoanov is back in the lineup after missing three games with an upper-body injury.

Oliver Wahlstrom, who has been a healthy scratch in the last three games, is back in.

Here’s the rest of the lineup:

Lee-Horvat-Pageau

Tsyplakov-Nelson-Palmieri

Engvall-Cizikas-Holmstrom

Fasching-MacLean-Wahlstrom

Romanov-Dobson

Pelech-Pulock

Reilly-Mayfield

Sorokin

Varlamov

WHERE THEY STAND:

Buffalo enters Friday’s game off a 5-2 loss to the Florida Panthers. Florida notched the first two goals of the game, with Jesper Boqvist and Sam Reinhart scoring in the first period. Buffalo got even in the second on goals from Jason Zucker and Rasmus Dahlin, but Carter Verhaeghe put the Panthers back up later in the frame. Sam Bennett and Aleksander Barkov put the game out of reach, propelling Florida to the victory.

The Islanders suffered the second loss of their back-to-back against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday. The game was scoreless through 40 minutes of play, with Semyon Varlamov and Elvis Merzlikins trading zeroes. However, it was Damon Severson who broke the ice on a sharp-angle shot 5:43 into the third period, and Columbus never let go of the lead. Justin Danforth scored an empty netter, and the Islanders dropped a 2-0 decision for their fourth shutout in their first 10 games, a first in franchise history.

OPPONENT LAST GAME: Panthers 5, Sabres 2

MATCHUP TO WATCH: Tage Thompson vs. Anders Lee

Two of the top goal scorers on each team are the names to watch in this matchup. Starting with the Islanders, Anders Lee has had his share of success in scoring against Buffalo, boasting a whopping 14 in 33 games, tied for the fourth-most against any team in his career. Lee was kept quiet in their season series last year, but with the Islanders desperate for offense, finding his scoring touch against Buffalo is imperative.

Thompson started the season with a team-leading seven goals in 10 games. He also enters play on Friday with a seven-game point streak, notching six goals and five assists for 11 points in that span. Additionally, Thompson is regarded as one of the league’s best power forwards, scoring 47 goals two seasons ago. While his output slowed down in 2023-24 to 29 goals, he’s back to scoring regularly, and shutting him down will be paramount for the Islanders.

WHO IS HOT:

Casey Cizikas is another name that has had a strong career against the Sabres. He leads active Islanders in assists and points against them with 14 and 19, respectively. Additionally, he scored the game-winning goal in their first meeting last season.

Ilya Sorokin will take the net for the Islanders on Friday. Against Buffalo, he is 5-3-2 in his career with a .914 SV% and 2.60 GAA, most recently allowing three goals on 36 shots in a loss on March 14. He also shut the Sabres out for his first NHL win and clean sheet on Feb. 16, 2021.

OPPONENT NOTES:

Jason Zucker has a lot on the line entering play on Friday. The veteran forward has a three-game point streak, totaling two goals and an assist in that span, and also sits two goals short of 200 for his NHL career.

Owen Power has been producing at a higher offensive clip so far this season. The former first-overall pick has two goals and six assists for eight points in 10 games thus far, as well as a five-game point streak with a goal and six helpers in that span.

Zucker leads active Sabres in goals against the Islanders with seven in his career. He sits in a tie in total points with Rasmus Dahlin with 11 in their careers against New York, with the latter topping the team in assists with 10.

Devon Levi is the Sabres’ starting goalie against the Islanders on Friday. He only has one matchup against New York in his career, taking the loss with three goals against on 29 shots on Oct. 14, 2023.

PREGAME READING