Elmont, N.Y. (WGR 550) – The Buffalo Sabres will play the Islanders on Saturday for in New York’s home opener on Long Island.
The Sabres were one of the best road teams in the NHL last season, and Eric Comrie was even able to shut the Islanders out on Long Island, 2-0, last March.
Sabres head coach Don Granato and his team dealt with opening night on Thursday, and says now it’s the Islanders’ turn.
“It can be a challenge, and it can be an extra challenge for them as well,” said Granato following Saturday’s morning skate. “There’s a lot of extra emotions and anxiety, because these guys just want to get it going, and they’ve had to wait a little longer. So what that means time will tell.”
The New York Rangers were successful at choking off the Sabres’ attack on Thursday before it could get started. Granato believes the Isles are no different.
“It’s two similar styles, and we get to go against a real stingy, strong defensive group,” he said.
There are ways to get the upper-hand, but Granato says it has to come early.
“You want to attack before a team gets in its structure. Then when they’re in their structure, you want to do things to get them out of their structure,” Granato said. “You have to have an element of patience, meaning you don’t always have to go over the boards and score. If it’s in the D zone, you need to get it out. If it's in the neutral zone, you need to get it into the offensive zone. So you have to have that sense of objective.”
The Rangers blocked 23 shots against the Sabres, and Granato feels it’s because his players were passing up their first opportunity to shoot, which allowed the Rangers to time the blocked shot.
In his first NHL game, it was easy to see the Rangers’ game plan was to hit Zach Benson and play physical with him. It didn’t seem to bother him at all, and Granato liked how he held up.
“I thought physicality was no issue for him, as he was certainly not intimidated. Even when Trouba probably took three penalties on him there, it didn’t bother Benson. He turned around and grabbed him, and he actually held him back,”Granato said. “He was saying, ‘You didn’t bother me. I’m not letting you get back in the play.’ He’s a gamer.”
Many fans were down on Connor Clifton after watching just two preseason games, but he certainly answered the bell on Thursday. He was physical throughout, and sent a message early to the Rangers to keep your head up.
Meanwhile, there were no changes for the Sabres lineup-wise, meaning Devon Levi will get the start again in goal.
This is the Islanders’ first game of the 2023-24 regular season on Saturday.
Late last season, they added former Vancouver Canucks captain Bo Horvath. In his 30 games played on Long Island, Horvat scored seven goals and added nine assists for 16 points.
Brock Nelson was, by far, their leading scorer with 36 goals and 39 assists for 75 points.
Ilya Sorokin was a rock in net last year, going 31-22-7 with a 2.34 goals-against average and a sparkling .924 save percentage.
Join Brian Koziol and myself for pregame coverage on WGR starting at 6:30 p.m. ET when you’ll hear from Granato, Rasmus Dahlin and Peyton Krebs.
