The Sabres have now allowed five goals in their last three contests after surrendering 17 goals in their previous three games.They earned a 3-1 win over Detroit on Saturday, then surrendered a late goal to break a third-period tie in a 3-1 loss to Winnipeg on Sunday.
Although they were frustrated with the outcome against the Jets, they didn't let it deter them from maintaining the same tight-checking, detail-oriented style of play against an Islanders team that had allowed a league-best 2.33 goals per game entering Tuesday.
It proved to be a winning recipe, combined with a 24-save performance from Linus Ullmark and a two-point night from captain Jack Eichel, who set up goals for Jeff Skinner and Jason Pominville.
"I think they're one of the better teams defensively in the league," Pominville said. "They clogged it up pretty good in the neutral zone and I thought we did a pretty good job, too. They had a push in the third, but we defended hard for most of the game.
"The chances were pretty tight, tough to earn opportunities. Those are playoff-type games. Those are the games that you want to find a way to win. It's nice to come out on top of that."
Players were blunt about the need for a better respect of the defensive zone after an overtime loss to Carolina on Thursday. Okposo said the nature of the goals they allowed in that game and the two that preceded it - many of which uncontested shots near their net - served as a wakeup call.
The Sabres have bought into that message in the three games since. They allowed 25 shots to the Islanders and blocked 14.
"It's good to see," Eichel said. "There's a lot of desperation to get the puck out of our own end. I think we can still clean some things up where we're giving teams some second and third opportunities and in terms of when we're breaking the puck out, we're giving it back to them and we're getting caught out there a little bit.
"But I think we can all agree that when guys do get caught out there and they get cycled that guys are desperate. We're working hard to keep the puck out of our net. I think our goalies have played very well the last three games and it's a team effort. It's good to see."
Ullmark was there to bail the Sabres out when the Islanders made their late push, including a breakaway stop on Cal Clutterbuck to preserve the one-goal lead before Larsson added the extra cushion.