11/30/24 – 7:30 pm EST at UBS Arena, Elmont, NY

Record

Buffalo – 11-10-2 | 24 points – 5th place in the Atlantic Division

NY Islanders – 8-10-6 | 22 points – 7th place in the Metropolitan Division

Special Teams

Buffalo

Power Play – 15.7% (T-26th)

Penalty Kill – 80.5% (11th)

NY Islanders

Power Play – 11.9% (32nd)

Penalty Kill – 68.6% (31st)

Top Scorers

Buffalo

Alex Tuch: 23 GP, 8 G, 14 A, 22 PTS

Rasmus Dahlin: 23 GP, 6 G, 13 A, 19 PTS

Tage Thompson: 18 GP, 11 G, 7 A, 18 PTS

NY Islanders

Kyle Palmieri: 24 GP, 10 G, 9 A, 19 PTS

Brock Nelson: 24 GP, 10 G, 7 A, 17 PTS

Anders Lee: 24 GP, 9 G, 8 A, 17 PTS

Starting Goalies

Buffalo – James Reimer (1-0-0, 2.00 GAA, .939 save %)

NY Islanders – Ilya Sorokin (5-6-3, 2.70 GAA, .909 save %)

Line Combinations and Pairings

Buffalo

Forwards

JJ Peterka – Tage Thompson - Alex Tuch

Zach Benson - Dylan Cozens - Peyton Krebs

Jason Zucker - Jiri Kulich - Jack Quinn

Beck Malenstyn - Ryan McLeod - Nicolas Aube-Kubel

Ex. Tyson Kozak

Defense

Rasmus Dahlin - Bowen Byram

Owen Power - Henri Jokiharju

Jacob Bryson - Connor Clifton

Ex. Dennis Gilbert

Goaltenders

James Reimer

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen

Injuries

Sam Lafferty (day-to-day – lower body)

Jordan Greenway (IR - week–to-week – middle body)

Mattias Samuelsson (IR – lower body)

Related: Does A Deal For Jiricek Make Sense For The Sabres?

Notes

Buffalo has earned a win in two of its last three games against the Islanders.

Alex Tuch has recorded 10 points (4+6) in his last eight games. Tuch has recorded at least one point in seven consecutive road contests and he has recorded eight points (3+5) in that span.

Rasmus Dahlin has notched 17 points (6+11) in his last 15 games. Dahlin’s 72 career goals are the third-most by a defenseman in Sabres history and he is one goal away from tying Mike Ramsey for second place on Buffalo’s all-time list for defensemen. Dahlin is riding a four-game assist streak against the Islanders. An assist tonight would give Dahlin the longest assist streak against the Islanders by a Sabres defenseman in franchise history.

Dylan Cozens has posted nine points (5+4) in his last nine games against the Islanders, including one goal in each of his last three. With a goal in tonight’s game, Cozens would become the first Sabres skater to record a goal streak of four or more games against the Islanders since Ales Kotalik from Oct. 29, 2005 to Oct. 26, 2006 (four games). Cozens (2+1) have each recorded three points in their last three games

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen has earned a win in each of his last two games against the Islanders, including a 21-save shutout on March 14, 2024. Luukkonen has made 81 saves on 86 New York shots (.942) in three career games against the Islanders.

Bowen Byram has registered at least one assist in back-to-back games against the Islanders (0+3) and he has four assists in his last four games against New York.

Owen Power has collected at least one assist in back-to-back games against New York (0+3

Follow Michael on X, Instagram, and Bluesky @MikeInBuffalo