'The legend grows' | Houser makes 45 saves in SO win over Isles

Rick Jeanneret said it best as members of the Sabres engulfed their goaltender following a shootout victory over the New York Islanders on Tuesday.
The legend of Michael Houser grows and grows.
Houser, just 24 hours removed from an NHL debut that captured the imagination of the hockey world, made 45 saves and then stopped all three shots in the shootout to earn a 4-3 victory.

The 28-year-old goaltender turned away the last of those attempts with a glove save on Oliver Wahlstrom. He let out a fist pump as celebratory screams poured out of the Buffalo bench.
"I think everyone's just happy to win," he said afterward.
Anders Bjork scored two goals along with the shootout winner to help the Sabres erase a two-goal deficit for the second straight night. Cody Eakin also scored.
But we begin our takeaways once again with the man between the pipes.

1. The legend continues

First, a quick recap for those who missed the game Monday. Houser - approaching the end of his ninth professional season - earned the win in his NHL debut, an opportunity necessitated by the absences of four goaltenders above him on the depth chart.
It was his first game of any sort in nearly 14 months. He joked afterward that he was still catching his breath.
By the time he met with the media for his postgame presser on Tuesday, he had made 82 saves (including the three in the shootout) in less than 27 hours.
"It really didn't feel like 45 shots or whatever it was," he said. "The first period there was obviously a little bit more work. As the game went on, it seemed like it kind of slowed down a little bit."
Houser faced 21 shots during the opening 20 minutes and was beat on a one-time shot from Anthony Beauvillier. The Sabres settled down from that point on, allowing shots from areas where Houser could track them and field them cleanly.
Until late in the third period, that is. The Sabres had come back to tie the game when, with 4:33 remaining, Casey Cizikas got behind the defense for a breakaway. Houser turned the shot away, foreshadowing the work he would do to seal the victory in the shootout. He looked as composed facing a Beauvillier backhand as he did talking to reporters afterward.
"I was just trying to stay out tall, be big and be patient," he said. "But no, no real jitters. I prefer shootouts over three-on-three."

With Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (lower body) and Dustin Tokarski (family matter) unavailable and Linus Ullmark's status up in the air as he recovers from a lower-body injury, there is a solid chance that Houser starts one - if not both - of the Sabres' last two games in Pittsburgh. His family is from Youngstown, Ohio, about an hour north of the Steel City. Both games will have fans in attendance.
"If I'm in there that'll be really cool, having my parents there to see me play in the NHL," he said. "That will be really fun."

2. Inside the numbers

Houser becomes the first Sabres goaltender to win his first two starts since Mika Noronen in 2000. His 45 saves were the most by a Sabres goaltender since Carter Hutton stopped 47 shots during a victory in Los Angeles on Oct. 17, 2019.

3. Bjork's big night

Bjork found immediate chemistry after moving to a line with Sam Reinhart and Victor Olofsson against the Islanders on Monday. Granato stuck with the trio in the rematch, and it paid off.
Shot attempts were in Buffalo's favor, 19-8, with the trio on the ice at 5-on-5, according to Natural Stat Trick. After multiple long shifts in the offensive zone, they finally capitalized when Bjork tipped a Colin Miller shot to cut the deficit to 3-2 with 2:23 left to play in the second period. Bjork ignited the shift by forcing a turnover on a backcheck near the New York blue line.

"He was dynamic," Granato said. "Getting to pucks, pressuring pucks, hanging on and possessing pucks, and obviously finishing. He's got a lot of talent and he's getting more and more comfortable every day and developing chemistry and figuring out our system and how we want to play. It's all adding up and it's fun to watch when that happens. And he's a hell of a good kid and teammate, too."
Bjork scored the tying goal with 9:04 remaining in regulation, finding room in the right faceoff circle and beating goaltender Ilya Sorokin with a near-side wrist shot. He was patient and deliberate on his first NHL shootout attempt, beating Sorokin to his glove side for the lone goal of the competition.
"I'm just trying to get better every day with season winding down here but I'm trying to improve and build for the remainder of this year and then to hopefully carry that on into next year," he said.

4. Call it a comeback

The Sabres erased two-goal deficits and went on to win in consecutive games for the first time since Nov. 17 and Nov. 19, 2018 at Minnesota and Pittsburgh, respectively.
"I think we did a good job bringing energy," Bjork said. "Both games we didn't start the way we wanted exactly, especially tonight, I thought, but we responded well and competed for 60 minutes. I think that was extremely important.
"With the young legs and young bodies we have on this team, we have the ability to stay energized the whole game and start making plays and breaking teams down. That was our focus and I think that was what we did well."

5. Up next

The season concludes with games in Pittsburgh on Thursday and Saturday. Coverage on Thursday begins at 6:30 p.m. on MSG. Puck drop is scheduled for 7.