Buffalo Sabres - New York Islanders Game Preview
12/20/25 - 5:00pm at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, NY
Buffalo – 15-14-4 | - 34 points – 8th place in the Atlantic Division
NY Islanders – 19-13-3 | - 41 points – 4th place in the Metropolitan Division
Special Teams
Buffalo
Power Play – 20.2% (15th)
Penalty Kill – 85.4% (1st)
NY Islanders
Power Play – 15.9% (25th)
Penalty Kill - 81.8% (11th)
Top Scorers
Buffalo
Tage Thompson: 33 GP, 17 G, 13 A, 30 PTS
Alex Tuch: 32 GP, 11 G, 18 A, 29 PTS
Rasmus Dahlin: 30 GP, 3 G, 23 A, 26 PTS
NY Islanders
Bo Horvat: 32 GP, 19 G, 12 A, 31 PTS
Mathew Barzal: 34 GP, 9 G, 18 A, 27 PTS
Matthew Schaefer: 35 GP, 9 G, 14 A, 23 PTS
Starting Goalies(projected)
Buffalo – Alex Lyon (7-6-3, 2.99 GAA, .904 Sv %)
NY Islanders – David Rittich (7-3-1, 2.59 GAA, .905 Sv%)
Other Sabres Stories
Sabres Line Combinations and Pairings (projected)
Forwards
Peyton Krebs - Tage Thompson - Josh Doan
Zach Benson - Ryan McLeod - Jack Quinn
Noah Ostlund - Josh Norris - Alex Tuch
Jordan Greenway - Beck Malenstyn - Tyson Kozak
Ex. Josh Dunne
Defense
Mattias Samuelsson - Rasmus Dahlin
Bowen Byram - Michael Kesselring
Jacob Bryson - Owen Power
Ex. Zach Metsa
Goaltenders
Alex Lyon
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
Injuries
Justin Danforth (lower body, Oct. 18; injured reserve)
Jiri Kulich (blood clot, Nov. 4; injured reserve)
Jason Zucker (lower body, Dec 10; injured reserve)
Colten Ellis (concussion protocol, Dec 11: injured reserve)
Conor Timmins (lower body, Dec 19: injured reserve)
Notes
The Sabres are riding a four-game winning streak and a win tonight would extend their season-long winning streak to five games. A win tonight would mark the longest winning streak by Buffalo since the team’s five-game winning streak from March 30 to April 8, 2025. Buffalo has earned a win in seven of its last eight home contests vs. New York.
Tage Thompson has recorded nine points (5+4) in his last eight games, including at least one goal in five consecutive games. With a goal tonight, Thompson would match the longest goal streak of his career (Nov. 13 to 23, 2025; six games).
Ryan McLeod has notched one point in four straight games and he would match the longest point streak of his career (five games; twice) with a point in tonight’s game.
Alex Tuch has posted 13 points (4+9) in his last 12 games, including at least one point in each of his last four contests (2+3).
Alex Lyon has made 102 saves on 111 shots in his last five appearances (.919).
Zach Benson has notched at least one point in three consecutive games and he has recorded four points (2+2) in those games.
Josh Norris is riding a six-game personal point streak and he has collected nine points (3+6) in that span.
Noah Ostlund has registered one goal in back-to-back games and a goal tonight would make him the first Sabres forward age 21 or younger to record a three-game goal streak since Dylan Cozens from Nov. 28 to Dec.1, 2022.
Rasmus Dahlin has recorded 10 points (2+8) in his last eight games.
Josh Doan has collected five points (2+3) in his last five home contests.
Jack Quinn has tallied one point in three straight games (1+2)
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