Ryan Strome had a goal and an assist, Thomas Greiss made 28 saves and the New York Islanders beat the Buffalo Sabres 5-1 on Friday night.
John Tavares had a power-play goal for New York, and Andrew Ladd, Anthony Beauvillier and Calvin de Haan also scored. Defenseman Travis Hamonic had two assists as the Islanders snapped a three-game home losing streak.
Greiss was in line for a shutout before Zemgus Girgensons scored with 1:03 left, and the goaltender improved to 6-2 in his last eight games.
Anders Nilsson had 27 saves in his 10th start of the season for Buffalo (12-13-8).
The Islanders (13-14-6) honored Kyle Okposo with a video tribute during a stoppage in the opening period. It was Okposo's first game against New York since he left the team for a $42 million, seven-year deal with Buffalo in the offseason.
Okposo played the first 529 games of his career with New York, collecting 139 goals and 230 assists in nine seasons.
"I didn't know where to go. I hadn't been down to the visitor's room before so that was a little strange not going to the other side but I'm finding my way around quickly," Okposo said about his first appearance in Brooklyn as a member of the visiting team.
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"Just driving to the rink today and those emotions start to come back a little bit," Okposo said. "I started to think about the fact that both of my kids were born here and I grew up here."
Beauvillier opened the scoring at 12:05 of the first period with his fourth goal of the season, redirecting a Hamonic shot past Nilsson. Shane Prince also assisted on the play.
Strome made it 2-0 in the second, knocking his own rebound past Nilsson for his fifth of the season.
Ladd and de Haan added insurance goals in the third as the Islanders registered four or more goals in back-to-back games for the first time this season. Ladd fired a wrist shot past Nilsson's glove and de Haan buried a pretty feed from Alan Quine.
NOTES: Islanders F Casey Cizikas missed his fourth consecutive game with an upper-body injury. ... The Islanders scratched G Jean-Francois Berube and F Stephen Gionta. ... Marcus Foligno became the 75th player to appear in 300 regular-season games for the Sabres. Among current Sabres, only Tyler Ennis (380) has played more. ... Sabres D Cody Franson missed his second straight game with an undisclosed injury.
UP NEXT
Sabres: Visit the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday.
Islanders: Host the Washington Capitals on Tuesday.
