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Marty Biron's first start as an Islander in Buffalo didn't go as well as his home start against Buffalo four days earlier. This time it was the Sabres with the shutout. On to the trick...
1. The Isles chased Ryan Miller to the bench on Saturday but the All-Star, and likely US Olympian, made 24 saves to blank the Islanders for the second time in his career (10/26/06) and end the Islanders' four-game winning streak. Biron finished with 36 saves for the Islanders.
2. The Sabres scored once in each period, with Derek Roy and Thomas Vanek scoring on power plays in the first and second period. Paul Gaustad scored with 3:41 to play to seal the deal.
3. It's the first time this season that the Islanders have been shutout. They were last blanked on April 7 in Carolina (9-0).
.... and a few more...
4. The Islanders entered the game ranked second in the NHL in face-off percentage, but lost 39 of 47 face-offs. It's likely the most lopsded face-off differential in Islander history since face-offs became an official real-time statistic. Richard Park lost all nine that he took, while Josh Bailey lost eight of nine. In addition to scoring his first goal of the season, Derek Roy won all fourteen face-offs that he took.
5. The Isles out-hit the Sabres 15-12. Tim Jackman had five hits for the Isles while Patrick Kaleta led all players with seven hits.
6. Mark Streit led all players with 26:14 of ice-time. He attempted five shots, but three were blocked by Buffalo and two missed the nets.
7. Jason Pominville, who had five shots against the Isles in the first period on Saturday was one of three Sabres held without a shot.
8. John Tavares had his four-game point streak wiped away by the shutout.
9. Buffalo has allowed a league-low 24 goals in their first twelve games. They have held nine of their twelve opponents to two goals or less, although the Isles had scored eight goals in their first two games against the Sabres.
10. The home team has won all three games in the series, with the final meeting set for January 16th on Long Island.
Up next: The Isles travel to the Prudential Center in Newark to face the Devils. The Isles lost all three meetings in New Jersey last season. Face-off is at 7:08pm with the Islander telecast on MSG Plus 2 (and the Devils telecast on MSG Plus).
Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since 1982. Visit my blog: forever1940.blogspot.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick
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