The New York Islanders look for their third straight win Saturday night at 7 p.m. (MSG Plus) against the Buffalo Sabres.
The Islanders beat Buffalo in each of the teams' first two meetings, the most recent occasion coming three weeks ago when New York outlasted the Sabres 4-2.On Saturday Buffalo, already near the bottom of the NHL as the 27th-highest scoring team, will not have the services of leading scorer Thomas Vanek, out with an upper-body injury.
For New York, John Tavares has 22 points in the last 14 games. The 21-year old center did not score in New York's last game on Friday against the Ottawa Senators, but Mark Eaton netted a goal at 2:35 into overtime and the Islanders escaped with a 2-1 overtime win. Evgeni Nabokov, 6-2 in his last eight games, stopped 23 shots in the victory.
For more on the Islanders, head over to the SB Nation blog Lighthouse Hockey.