BUFFALO — Ilya Sorokin was voted an NHL All-Star for the first time on Thursday. He certainly played like one against the Sabres.
Sorokin made 42 saves but the Islanders’ skid was extended to 1-4-3 with a 3-2 overtime loss to the Sabres on Thursday night at KeyBank Center.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 24 saves for the Sabres, who have scored the third most goals in the NHL.
Dylan Cozens won it on a breakaway 12 seconds into the extra period after taking a long pass from defenseman Rasmus Dahlin, knocking it down, controlling and beating Sorokin.
The Sabres tied it at 2-2 at 9:32 of the third period as Casey Mittelstadt found Victor Olofsson open on the left. The equalizer came just 39 seconds after Luukkonen robbed Anthony Beauvillier from the right circle with his glove.
Coach Lane Lambert altered his lineup for a second straight night after the Islanders netted just eight total goals in a 1-2-2 homestand. William Dufour was sent back to the Islanders’ AHL affiliate in Bridgeport after making his NHL debut on Wednesday. Hudson Fasching, who has earned a full-time role on the third line, missed the game with a lower-body injury and is day to day.
So Simon Holmstrom drew back in on Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s right wing after being a healthy scratch on Wednesday. Ross Johnston, playing for the first time in six games, was on the fourth line as Lambert elevated agitator Cal Clutterbuck to Mathew Barzal’s top line with Anders Lee.
Lambert was liberally mixing and matching his combinations by the second period, including putting Clutterbuck back on the fourth line with Casey Cizikas and Matt Martin and limiting Johnston’s ice time.
But Clutterbuck, in his eighth game back in the lineup after missing eight, appeared to re-injure his right hand as he exited for the Islanders’ room at 18:03 of the second period.
Cizikas slid the puck across the top of the goalmouth to an open Martin as the Islanders took a 2-1 lead at 18:30. Alex Tuch had tied the game at 8:26 of the second period after Dahlin’s initial shot was blocked.
Sorokin, and pretty much Sorokin alone, helped the Islanders to a 1-0 lead after the first period.
The Islanders were outshot 19-5 over the first 20 minutes, outchanced 36-9 and, per NaturalStatTrick.com, the Sabres held an 11-2 in high-danger chances. They offered little defensive resistance either in the neutral zone or at the blue line.
Yet Brock Nelson, heading to his first All-Star Game, notched his team-leading 16th goal but his first in 15 games, as he got to the crease to redirect Beauvillier’s feed off the rush at 7:19 of the first period.
