Sabres score 7, top Islanders to stop slide

ELMONT, N.Y. -- Jiri Kulich had two goals and an assist to help the Buffalo Sabres end a 13-game losing streak with a 7-1 win against the New York Islanders at UBS Arena on Monday night.

Beck Malenstyn, Jason Zucker, Zach Benson, Jack Quinn and Tage Thompson scored, with Rasmus Dahlin adding four assists for the Sabres (12-19-4), who were 0-10-3 in their past 13 and had not won since Nov. 23 (4-2 against San Jose Sharks). Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 27 saves.

“I really think it started in Boston. We didn't find the back in the net a couple situations there, and played a heck of a game in our own end, limiting opportunities,” Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said. “We were smart with the puck. I think we started off tonight the same way. Our puck play was really good. Our defending was good. I think when you go through something like this, a journey that is awfully painful, when you come out of it, you should be a better team.”

Kyle Palmieri scored the lone goal for the Islanders (13-15-7). Ilya Sorokin made 18 saves.

“We should be embarrassed,” New York forward Bo Horvat said. “In front of our fans, to do that, in front of our goaltender who’s bailed us out a lot over his career…Just an unacceptable effort by us tonight.”

Malenstyn deflected a Jacob Bryson point shot from the low slot past Sorokin’s blocker to give the Sabres a 1-0 lead at 2:07 of the first period.

Kulich beat Sorokin over the glove from the low slot at 16:49 of the first, seconds after Buffalo’s power play expired. Dylan Cozens won a puck battle below the goal line and found Kulich all alone just inside the right face-off circle.

The Sabres outshot the Islanders 8-5 in the first period.

While on the power play, Zucker extended the Sabres lead to 3-0 at 6:53 of the second. His one-timer from the high slot off a feed from Quinn at the top of the left circle beat Sorokin high glove side.

“It was huge to score some goals,” Zucker said. “Throughout this entire stretch, we’ve had some really good games, but we haven’t scored. Early on, we had some really bad games where we scored. It was good to have a complete game to get that win.”

The Islanders have allowed 15 power-play goals on 32 attempts on home ice this season.

Sorokin denied a tic-tac-toe passing play with the edge of his right pad following a Brock Nelson defensive-zone turnover. But Benson buried the rebound from the top of the crease to give Buffalo a 4-0 lead at 15:45 of the second.

Just 2:36 later, Quinn scored on a one-timer from deep in the right circle to give the Sabres a 5-1 lead at 18:21 of the third. Cozens found Quinn from behind the Islanders’ net before Quinn beat Sorokin far side over the blocker.

Palmieri got the Islanders on the board to make it a 5-1 game at 19:05 of the third after he tapped home Anthony Duclair’s feed at the blocker-side post off the rush.

Sorokin took the first regular-season penalty of his NHL career after he was called for a delay-of-game penalty for playing the puck outside of the trapezoid at 5:23 of the third.

At 8:07 of the third, Islanders head coach Patrick Roy pulled Sorokin for the extra attacker. Thompson scored on the empty net two minutes later, at 10:07, to extend the Sabres’ lead to 6-1.

“We try to pull the goalie with, what, 12 minutes left in the game?” Islanders coach Patrick Roy said. “I mean, I always got to try something at least to give ourselves a chance to get back in that game, and we just couldn't get it. We didn't have enough support on that 6-on-5 to create more offense.”

After an Isaiah George turnover at the Sabres’ blue line, Kulich scored off the rush after he beat Sorokin glove side from inside the left dot at 15:49 of the third to make it a 7-1 game.

“We battled for a long time now,” Dahlin said. “It finally went our way, and when you do the right things over and over again, good things will happen to you. It’s up to us now to keep this thing going.”

NOTES: It was the first multipoint game of Kulich's NHL career. … Dahlin had returned from a seven-game absence on Friday against the Toronto Maple Leafs but did not play Saturday against the Boston Bruins before returning to the lineup against the Islanders. ... New York allowed seven goals in a game for the first time since Dec. 27, 2023, in a 7-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins.