BUFFALO, N.Y. _ Of course, it never is as simple as mastering one statistic such as shots on goal. For the Islanders, a game and a season are determined by the intangible and immeasurable.
The Islanders did not have enough of one or the other to beat the last-place team in the Eastern Conference on Thursday.
They did, finally, limit the opposition's shots to 22. They also made a strong comeback from a three-goal deficit. But they allowed a goal with 4:14 left in regulation and lost to the Sabres, 4-3.
Sam Reinhart's goal broke a tie, overcoming third-period goals by Ross Johnston and Anders Lee. So a good opportunity for two valuable points slipped away.
Shots, shots and shots represented the theme going in. The Islanders have become notorious for allowing so many of them lately, 40 to 50 a game. On Thursday morning, Doug Weight said the pattern had to stop.
"It's just unacceptable. If I have to be the bad guy and say it, that's my job. They have to get in the shot lanes. It's a big-boy world, it's a tough thing to do," he said. "We have to sprint out at them, we have to pick up sticks in front of the net and pillage and get into people. If we're not going to do it, we're going to be a soft team. And soft teams, in this grind we're going to play in right now, are not going to succeed."
Sabres coach Phil Housley picked up on it, too. He mentioned how the Islanders blue line core is depleted and that the attempts have been pouring in on Jaroslav Halak and added, "We're just telling our guys to have that shot mentality."
Imagine how pleased the Islanders would have been had someone assured them before the game that for the first 13 minutes, 21 seconds of the game, the opposition would have only two shots. That is exactly what happened. The problem for the Islanders was that both of them went in the net.
Jack Eichel made the first one from the right circle, finding an opening left of Halak and firing the puck off the post at 7:41. Five and a half minutes later, Evan Rodrigues, placed on Eichel's line because they had good chemistry as college teammates, made it 2-0. He was alone in front to capture a rebound off the end boards, avoiding Anthony Beauvillier's stick and sliding the puck past Halak. Those were the first two goals the low-voltage Sabres had scored in 5-on-5 situations in the past five games.
They made it 3-0 on a power play 7:48 into the second period as Ryan O'Reilly tipped home a long shot by Rasmus Ristolainen. Kyle Okposo had the second assist, extending his point scoring streak to 13 in the past 12 games.
The Islanders' situation looked bleaker when John Tavares took a high-sticking penalty at 10:50, but that turned out to give them their first spark.
Shortly after leaving the penalty box, Tavares was knocked to the ice by Marco Scandella. Seconds later, Tavares got up, beat Scandella to the edge of the crease and knocked home the puck to make it 3-1 and offer the Islanders a pulse.
The Islanders led in shots, 20-14, after two periods with the full realization that shots were far from the whole story.
