Buffalo Sabres forward Kyle Okposo is facing his former team, the Islanders, for the first time. He spent his first nine NHL seasons with them, but signed a seven-year contract with the Sabres on July 1. He mentioned captain John Tavares and forwards Josh Bailey and Cal Clutterbuck as the teammates he was most excited to be skating against. "We've been to battle together so many times and it's going to be fun," he said. The Sabres have won two of their past three games (2-1-0) and have points in five of seven games (4-2-1) since Jack Eichel returned to the lineup after missing the first 21 games because of a left high ankle sprain. Eichel's return also has sparked Okposo, forward Ryan O'Reilly and defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen, who have seen their offensive numbers jump. Okposo and O'Reilly each have three goals and five assists, and Ristolainen has one goal and nine assists in the past seven games. "Having Jack back helps a lot," O'Reilly said. "We know we can feed off each other and create offense. They [Eichel and Okposo] go out, they have a possession shift, we go out we know we can do the same thing and feed off each other. I think we've gotten some good bounces. We've been working hard and sometimes you get rewarded and sometimes you don't. I think as of late we've had a few nice bounces." Robin Lehner will in goal.
