UNIONDALE, N.Y. — Yann Danis made 30 saves for his second straight shutout at home, and Sean Bergenheim scored twice in the New York Islanders’ 2-0 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night.
The loss dropped the Sabres to ninth place in the Eastern Conference playoff race, two points behind Carolina.
Patrick Lalime made 32 saves for the Sabres.
The Islanders are 5-1-3 in their last nine games at Nassau Coliseum.
The Sabres took seven of the first eight shots of the game, but none of them got by Danis, nor did the other two they had in the scoreless first period.
The Islanders got on the board first at 6:13 of the middle period. On a scramble in front of Buffalo’s net, Bergenheim came up with the loose puck in the left circle and sent a quick wrist shot between Lalime’s pads. It was Bergenheim’s 10th goal of the season, and came on New York’s first shot of the period.
The Sabres’ best chance to tie the game came in the last minute of the period, but Ales Kotalik hit the left post while Buffalo had a 4-on-3 power play.
Buffalo put a good amount of pressure on Danis in the third period, but it was the Islanders who capitalized when Bergenheim banged in a quick pass from Frans Nielsen with 2:02 left in regulation.
Notes: Islanders captain Bill Guerin skated in pregame warmups,
but was not on the bench for the game, leading to speculation he had been traded. … With defenseman Brendan Witt suspended for five games by the NHL on Saturday for elbowing Calgary’s Brandon Prust in the head Friday night, the Islanders called up Andrew MacDonald from Bridgeport to play his first NHL game.
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