Kyle Okposo excited to play Islanders

BUFFALO --If things get a little weird for Buffalo Sabres forward Kyle Okposo when he faces the New York Islanders for the first time Friday (7 p.m. ET; MSG-B, MSG+, NHL.TV), you'll have to excuse him.
Okposo was a key member of the Islanders for nine seasons. But he signed a seven-year contract with the Sabres on July 1, ending his time with the organization that picked him No. 7 in the 2006 NHL Draft.

"It's going to be fun, I'm excited to play these guys," Okposo said Thursday. "I still talk to quite a few of those guys. It's going to be weird playing them, but once we get into the game it's going to be fun."
Okposo had 139 goals and 369 points in 529 games with the Islanders, and helped them advance to the Stanley Cup Playoffs three times in the past four seasons. Facing his old team means he knows a lot about them, but they also have a pretty good scouting report on him.

"I played with a lot of those guys for a long time so they know my tendencies, I know their tendencies, and that part of it is going to be a chess match and it'll be fun," Okposo said. "But I'm looking forward to it and we've got to get a win and try to get two points."
Okposo leads the Sabres in goals (nine) and points (21). He has four goals and seven assists in his past 10 games and was moved to a line with center Jack Eichel for the Sabres' 6-3 win against the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday.
"I've learned how much of a game-breaker he is," Okposo said of Eichel. "His explosiveness is something that you hear about and you can see it when you play against him. But when you play with him you notice it every game and you can just see he's capable of beating a guy every time."
Okposo's first season with the Sabres has been successful statistically, but they have 28 points, placing them 15th in the Eastern Conference, one point and one spot in the standings ahead of the Islanders.
"It's tough to see them struggle, but on the other side of the ledger I'm over here now and this is what I've got to focus on," Okposo said. "When I talk to those guys I just ask them how they're doing and hopefully their spirits are up. You don't like to see guys go through that, that you battled with and you grew up with. But when we play them it's going to be business as usual and everybody is trying to get two points out there. But you don't like to see those guys struggle or go through tough stretches like they are."

Fortunately for Okposo, teammate Matt Moulson knows what it's like to face the Islanders for the first time after changing teams. Moulson had two goals and an assist as a member of the Minnesota Wild at Nassau Coliseum on March 18, 2014. It was his first game against his old team after Moulson was traded from the Islanders to the Sabres on Oct. 27, 2013 and subsequently traded by the Sabres to the Wild on March 5, 2014.
"I think it's just the initial weirdness, I'll call it, of facing your former team," said Moulson, who signed a five-year contract with the Sabres on July 1, 2014. "It's a little weirder when you go into their building for the first time. I think that kind of initial weirdness, once that goes away, it's just another hockey game."
Okposo will get to deal with that weirdness when the Sabres face the Islanders at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Dec. 23.
"Very passionate fan base there," Okposo said. "The first couple of guys that went back, [Frans] Nielsen and [Matt] Martin [who also left as free agents], they got video tributes and stuff like that. It is what it is, and it's going to be a special moment for me."