Brian Compton – NHL.com Deputy Managing Editor
NEW YORK — The New York Islanders will have to wait one more day to find out their first-round opponent in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Brian Gionta scored his second goal of the game with 2:14 remaining in overtime to give the Buffalo Sabres a 4-3 win against the Islanders at Barclays Center on Saturday.
By getting a point, the Islanders (45-26-10) won’t know they’ll face in the playoffs until the conclusion of their regular-season finale against the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday. Should the Islanders defeat the Flyers, they will finish third in the Metropolitan Division and face the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern Conference First Round. A loss of any kind means they’ll face the Florida Panthers as the first wild card from the Eastern Conference.
Evan Rodrigues and Matt Moulson had goals for Buffalo (35-36-11) in its final game of the season. Linus Ullmark made 21 saves.
Scott Mayfield and Alan Quine scored their first NHL goals and John Tavares tied the game with 6:26 left for New York. Christopher Gibson made 22 saves.
Mayfield opened the scoring with his first NHL goal at 2:03 of the second period. With the teams at even strength, Mayfield took a wrist shot from the right point that found its way through traffic and squeaked between Ullmark’s pads before tricking over the goal line to give New York a 1-0 lead.
Moulson, a former Islander, tied it for Buffalo 3:07 later when he redirected Jack Eichel’s feed from the right circle past Gibson to make it 1-1. It was Moulson’s eighth of the season but third in his past six games.
Rodrigues gave the Sabres the lead with his first NHL goal at 17:57 of the second period when he made a nifty move against Mayfield and beat Gibson with a wrist shot from the slot. Rodrigues played his second NHL game after making his debut Friday.
The Islanders responded while shorthanded with Quine’s first NHL goal 2:07 into the third period. With Mayfield in the penalty box, Islanders forward Bracken Kearns stole the puck from Ullmark behind the net and sent it front to Quine for an easy tap-in to make it 2-2.
Gionta put the Sabres back in front at 5:57. With the teams at even strength, Gionta skated into the Islanders zone puck and beat Gibson with a slap shot from the right circle for his first goal in nine games.
Tavares tied it at 13:34. Calvin de Haan let go a slap shot from the point that Ullmark stopped, but Tavares collected the puck in front and tapped it over the goal line for his 33rd goal of the season.
The Islanders were playing without defensemen Travis Hamonic (lower body), Thomas Hickey (undisclosed) and Brian Strait (upper body), as well as forwards Matt Martin (upper body), Cal Clutterbuck (lower body), Anders Lee (broken left fibula) and Mikhail Grabovski (upper body). Defenseman Marek Zidlicky and forward Nikolay Kulemin were scratched.
(Reprinted with permission of the Buffalo Sabres)
