OTP - Who Will Fill The Sabres Top-Six Hole? 11/01/24 – 7:00 pm EST at Key Bank Center in Buffalo, NY Record Buffalo – 4-5-1 | 9 points – 5th place in the Atlantic Division NY Islanders – 3-5-2 | 8 points – 8th place in the Metropolitan Division Special Teams Buffalo Power Play – 6.9% (32nd) Penalty Kill – 74.2% (23rd) NY Islanders Power Play – 12.9% (T-28th) Penalty Kill – 62.5% (T-31st) Top Scorers Buffalo Tage Thompson: 10 GP, 7 G, 5 A, 12 PTS Alex Tuch: 10 GP, 3 G, 6 A, 9 PTS JJ Peterka: 8 GP, 4 G, 4 A, 8 PTS NY Islanders Kyle Palmieri: 10 GP, 4 G, 3 A, 7 PTS Brock Nelson: 10 GP, 4 G, 2 A, 6 PTS Noah Dobson: 10 GP, 0 G, 6 A, 6 PTS Starting Goalies Buffalo – Devon Levi (1-2-0, 3.79 GAA, .874 save %) NY Islanders – Ilya Sorokin (2-2-1, 1.80 GAA, .932 save %) Line Combinations and Pairings Buffalo (based on Thursday’s practice) Forwards JJ Peterka - Tage Thompson - Alex Tuch Jordan Greenway - Ryan McLeod - Dylan Cozens Jason Zucker - Peyton Krebs - Jack Quinn Beck Malenstyn – Sam Lafferty - Nicolas Aube-Kubel Ex. Jiri Kulich Out – Zach Benson (lower-body) Defense Rasmus Dahlin - Henri Jokiharju Bowen Byram - Owen Power Mattias Samuelsson - Connor Clifton Ex. Jacob Bryson, Kale Clague Goaltenders Devon Levi Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen Notes Buffalo has earned a win in seven consecutive home contests with New York, the longest home winning streak over the Islanders in franchise history. The Sabres have only recorded nine home winning streaks of eight or more games against the same opponent in franchise history, with the most recent being an eight-game home winning streak over the Los Angeles Kings from Feb. 13, 2004 to Dec. 13, 2016. Buffalo has won its last two games against the Islanders by a combined score of 7-1. The Sabres have recorded a win in eight of their last 11 games against the Islanders (8-3-0). Tage Thompson is riding a seven-game point streak (6+5) and a point in today’s game would give him an eight-game point streak, the longest of his career. With an assist in today’s game, Thompson would match the longest assist streak of his career (six games; Nov. 28, 2022 to Dec. 9, 2022; 8+7). Owen Power is riding a five-game point streak and he has posted seven points (1+6) in that span. Power’s current five-game point streak and four-game assist streak are each the longest of his career. Alex Tuch has recorded nine points (3+6) in his last nine games. JJ Peterka has registered seven points (4+3) in his last six games, including one assist in each of his last two. In his last seven games, Jason Zucker has posted seven points (2+5), including one in each of his last three games (2+1). Rasmus Dahlin has recorded five points (1+4) in his last five games, including at least one in each of his last two games. Dahlin is two assists away from tying Doug Bodger for the fourth-most assists by a defenseman in franchise history (233). Dahlin is two points away from reaching 300 points in his career. Follow Michael on X @MikeInBuffalo [https://twitter.com/MikeInBuffalo] Image [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjA5MjU5NzgzNDExMjE0MTgw/subscribe2024-front-banner.jpg]
