Game Preview | 5 things to know ahead of Sabres at Islanders

The Buffalo Sabres wrap up a back-to-back set tonight with a game against the Wild Card-leading New York Islanders.
Buffalo is currently four points behind New York with three games in hand. Faceoff is at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN+ and Hulu. A subscription is required to watch the game on either streaming service. Click here for more information on the NHL's broadcast partners.
Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray will have the call on WGR 550.
Here are five things to know ahead of the game:

1. A recap of last night

The Sabres were on the wrong side of things Monday night in a 3-2 home loss to Edmonton.
Jeff Skinner and Dylan Cozens tied the game on two separate occasions, but the Oilers, led by a pair of goals from Connor McDavid, took home the two points as they look to climb the standings in the Western Conference.
"We missed the net quite a few times, too, on some point-blank chances that now, after the fact, it's very frustrating, because that turned out to be the difference in the game," head coach Don Granato said. "We generated more than enough to win that game."
Read the full recap here.

2. Injury news

The Sabres are already without forward Alex Tuch (lower body), who has been on injured reserve the past five games and is week to week. Buffalo's injury list grew ahead of Monday night's game.
Center Tyson Jost and defensemen Riley Stillman and Mattias Samuelsson were all ruled out prior to the game.
Jordan Greenway made his Sabres debut in Jost's absence. Greenway, acquired in a trade with the Wild on Friday, skated 12:07 and logged one shot and three hits against the Oilers.
Kale Clague and Jacob Bryson stepped back into the lineup on defense for Stillman and Samuelsson.
UPDATE (6:30 p.m.) -Jost will return to the lineup in place of JJ Peterka, Granato announced. Samuelsson and Stillman will be out for the second straight game and remain day to day. The Sabres recalled Lawrence Pilut on Tuesday afternoon as insurance on the back end, but he is not expected to join the lineup.

3. Head-to-head against the Islanders

Buffalo and New York last met on January 19 when the Sabres pulled out a 3-2 overtime victory on Ryan Miller Night.
Dylan Cozens scored the winner for the first overtime goal of his career.

New York is coming off a 4-1 win over Detroit on Saturday. Brock Nelson leads the team with 61 points (27+34) while Ilya Sorokin has started 45 games with a record of 21-18-6.
This is the second of three meetings between the Sabres and Islanders this season. They'll meet again on Saturday, March 25 in New York.
The Sabres are 5-5-0 in their last 10 games against the Islanders and 0-8-2 in their last 10 on the road. Buffalo's last win on the road against the Islanders came on April 9, 2016, a 4-3 win in overtime. Brian Gionta scored the clincher in that one.
This is the 186th game all-time between Buffalo and New York. Buffalo has an 87-73-25 series record. The Sabres are 17-16-8 on the road against the Islanders all-time.
A win tonight would give the Sabres four consecutive wins over the Islanders for the first time since they earned six straight wins over New York from October 5, 2005 to January 1, 2007.
A win would also give Buffalo 33 wins on the season, one more than they earned in 82 games in 2021-22. Buffalo last earned 33 or more wins in 2018-19 (33).

4. The playoff picture

Following regulation losses by Buffalo, Ottawa and Washington last night, here are the current Wild Card standings:
| Team | GP | Points | P% | Reg. W | ROW | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | WC1 - New York Islanders | 65 | 72 | .554 | 28 | 32 | | WC2 - Pittsburgh Penguins | 62 | 71 | .573 | 24 | 30 | | Buffalo Sabres | 62 | 68 | .548 | 24 | 31 | | Ottawa Senators | 63 | 68 | .540 | 25 | 30 | | Florida Panthers | 64 | 68 | .531 | 27 | 29 | | Washington Capitals | 65 | 68 | .523 | 24 | 30 | | Detroit Red Wings | 63 | 65 | .516 | 22 | 26 |
Other games of note tonight include:

5. Looking ahead

Following tonight's game, the Sabres will be back home on Thursday when they host the Dallas Stars, the Central Division's top seed, at KeyBank Center at 7 p.m.
That contest continues a stretch of seven-straight games against current playoff teams. Buffalo has another home game on Saturday against the New York Rangers at 5 p.m. before heading out for a three-game road trip.
Tickets to all remaining home games on sale now.