Lyon, Sabres stay hot with shutout against Islanders

ELMONT, N.Y. -- Alex Lyon made 26 saves and the Buffalo Sabres shut out the New York Islanders 5-0 at UBS Arena on Saturday.

Lyon, who made 13 saves in the first period, won his ninth straight game, tying a Sabres record (Gerry Desjardins, 1976-77).

"[Lyon] just comes to the rink every day and works his bag off," Sabres defenseman Mattias Samuelsson said. "He's a good pro. He takes care of himself, doing what he needs to do. So when you see what he puts in every day, it's not very surprising that he plays this well night in and night out.

"And I think the team's playing well in front of him, too, which obviously helps. But whenever we need a big save out of him, and there's definitely a couple tonight there in the second, he steps up and makes them."

Jason Zucker scored twice, and Tage Thompson, Alex Tuch and Rasmus Dahlin each scored for the Sabres (29-17-5), who have won three straight games and have 18 wins in their past 22 games (18-3-1).

"We're playing so consistently right now," Lyon said. "We may have had a little bit of a lackluster second period, and then turned it around. And that's what I think we're getting good at, is maybe when we emotionally get a bit disengaged, we can find a way to get re-engaged. And as a goalie, that's all you can ask for, that consistency.

"And so we're just doing a good job right now. My process is feeling good right now, but I'm just trying to take it one day at a time, because you just have to continue to hammer on the details and hope things work out. And right now, things are just working out."

David Rittich made 16 saves for the Islanders (27-19-5), who played their first game since a 3-3-1 road trip, and were shut out for the first time this season.

"I felt good about our game until they scored that second goal," Islanders coach Patrick Roy said. "I mean, I thought that we had some very good looks, especially short-handed. Their goalie made those big saves, a breakaway, 2-on-1s. Then, I guess when they scored that second goal, that probably hurt us and affected the rest of the game."

Zucker gave the Sabres a 1-0 lead 33 seconds into the second. Rittich made a right pad save on wrist shot from Jack Quinn before Zucker beat Rittich glove-side.

Lyon denied Maxim Shabanov's breakaway at 5:51 of the second to preserve the lead.

Later in the second period, with Buffalo on the power play, Lyon gloved a Simon Holmstrom wrist shot off the rush at 12:17 before he got his blocker on a Bo Horvat rush try at 12:43.

"We made a lot of bad decisions," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "It wasn't that [the Islanders] created chances. We made bad decisions, and they tried to make us pay for those bad decisions. And we talked about that after the second period, to just get back to playing winning hockey."

Thompson extended the lead to 2-0 at 19:47 of the second. Off the rush, Zach Benson skated behind the net and found Thompson, who had an empty net with Rittich sliding to the glove-side post.

Roy elected to bench Anders Lee, Mathew Barzal, and Anthony Duclair for the third period. The three forwards were on the ice for Thompson's goal.

"It was pretty simple. Backchecking is an important part of our game and our concept, and we talk about it on the road, and it's my job to make guys accountable," Roy said. "I even said to Barzal, when he made that turnover in that first period, and he backchecked hard, I said, 'That's fine. That's exactly what I'm looking for.' Mistakes are part of the game, but backchecking doesn't require talent. It requires will, and this is what this team is about."

Zucker scored his second of the game 25 seconds into the third period for a 3-0 lead. Shabanov turned the puck over before Ryan McLeod found Zucker cutting into the low slot.

Dahlin made it 4-0 with an empty-net goal at 14:02 of the third, with Rittich off for an extra skater.

Tuch scored at 14:38 of the third for the 5-0 final, deflecting a Samuelsson wrist shot from the slot.

Islanders forward Bo Horvat returned to the lineup after missing nine games with a lower-body injury. He had four shots on goal and was minus-2 in 19:20 of ice time.

"I felt pretty good," Horvat said. "I think obviously you can be better in certain areas, timing-wise, legs, and stuff like that. But overall, I felt pretty good. I felt confident. I just wish I could have been a difference-maker tonight."

NOTES: The Sabres are 21-3-1 when scoring first this season, and scored five goals in a game for the 14th time this season, tied with the Wild and Lightning for the second-most behind the Avalanche (16). … Islanders defenseman Ryan Pulock is day to day with an upper-body injury and did not play. He was replaced in the lineup by defenseman Isaiah George, who was recalled from Bridgeport of the American Hockey League. George had one blocked shot in 13:56 of ice time.