Buffalo Sabres v New York Islanders Live

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Despite a disappointing start at the bottom of the Eastern Conference, the Isles managed to pull their act together and quietly made it back to the playoff race as the season went on. Hoping to hold on to their positive momentum, the New York Islanders will take on Tim Connolly and the Buffalo Sabres at Nassau Colliseum on Sunday at midnight GMT.

Considering that the Sabres failed to make it to the post-season in 2007-08 and 2008-09, very few expected them to lead the Northeast division halfway through this year’s NHL campaign. Posting a 28-11-5 record, Buffalo is just two points behind the leading New Jersey Devils and could very well stay in the race for the number one overall playoff seed. Especially the Sabres’ performance at the defensive end of the ice has been terrific as they held their opponents to just 102 goals in 44 games. Most importantly, goaltender Ryan Miller gave Buffalo’s defense a considerable lift as he allowed just 2.02 goals per contest and put up an excellent .935 save percentage.

In contrast, the Islanders did not perform particularly well defensively as they experienced their fair share of unforced turnovers which in turn led to easy goals for their opponents. Moreover, the young team around rookie John Tavares often failed to close out contested games and gave away some points that could turn out to be crucial down the stretch. However, despite their poor defensive efforts and lack of experience, the Isles improved as the season went on and find themselves just two points out of the playoff picture after three months of play. That said, it appears to be rather unlikely that the Islanders will be able to give the Sabres a run for their money on Sunday. Albeit New York improved by leaps and bounds, Buffalo is still the clearly better overall team at this stage and should be able to steal one on the road if they play up to their potential.

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