Housley was particularly unhappy with the way the Sabres started the game, which he said has been true for much of the preseason. The Sabres scored first in only one of their exhibition games, against the Penguins at Penn State, which also happened to be the only game they won.
The coach was confident that his players will correct the issue, and they'll have a bit of time. The Sabres don't open their regular season until next Thursday, Oct. 5.
"I don't think it was good enough," forward Sam Reinhart, who scored the only goal of the game for Buffalo, said. "We've got to demand more, we've got to expect more out of this group. We're going to take a day to forget about it and move on but we've got to be ready for Thursday night."
For as few chances as they were able to generate, the Sabres didn't give up much either. Robin Lehner only faced 21 shots on the night, including just five the first, but New York took the lead on an Anders Lee goal with 2:53 remaining in the period.
While the Sabres are continuing to assimilate to Housley's system, the coach said there were spurts in the game when the wheels began to turn and the lessons in practice were beginning to translate. One such stretch came in the immediate aftermath of Reinhart's goal, which tied the game at 1-1 early in the second.
For the next five minutes, the Sabres controlled the play and consistently applied pressure in the Islanders' zone.
"We were just executing," Reinhart said. "It was there for us, the plays were there to be made. I think we have to demand more of our execution. In the first it showed especially on the shot board, and coming out of the neutral zone and getting into their end we just needed to change our mentality and execute."