BUFFALO — A day after Halloween, the Islanders nearly suffered a Nightmare on Perry Street.
They ended up escaping Buffalo with a badly needed 4-3 win but not without losing a trio of players in KeyBank Center, which felt like their own House of Horrors.
The news of Mat Barzal having traveled back to Long Island with an upper-body injury came down in the morning, then Adam Pelech and Mike Reilly both got hurt during the game, with the latter suffering a potentially serious injury when appearing to hit his head on the ice after a second-period hit from Jordan Greenway.
The Islanders survived a Barzal-less stretch two seasons ago, mostly on the back of Ilya Sorokin’s brilliance down the stretch, to get into the playoffs after all hope looked lost once Barzal went down toward the end of February.
They also survived a slew of injuries to their defense during the first half of last season to ultimately make the playoffs, though that did not come without some serious lows that culminated when Lane Lambert was fired.
Now, they might get both at the same time, and that is in the context of Friday’s game already feeling like a must-win, with the Islanders having dropped three games in a row to fall into last place in the Eastern Conference.
They will need to survive again — with goaltending, defense and winning ugly — until Barzal, Anthony Duclair and their defensemen are back, whenever that might be, otherwise their playoff chances could be shot by Christmas.
That’s what this Friday night at KeyBank Center was all about.
The Islanders, unlike much of the season so far, did not have most of the possession and could not talk about all their great chances.
Also unlike most of the season so far: They won, and in regulation to boot, beating the Sabres to earn two points that probably mean more to the group’s collective mentality than they will in the standings.
That came largely as a product of Max Tsyplakov’s best game yet as an NHLer, with the Russian taking things into his own hands during an injury-filled second period.
Tsyplakov broke a 1-1 tie by dressing down Buffalo defenseman Connor Clifton and cutting to the net 5:25 into the period.
Then at the 12:20 mark, he orchestrated a power play goal with a gorgeous backhand feed to Kyle Palmieri, who easily put the puck in the net at the backdoor.
This was a needed performance from the lone player in the Islanders’ lineup who wasn’t here last season — and someone they will need to step up more in the coming weeks.
It looked like the Islanders might have quelled any potential momentum for the Sabres when Ilya Sorokin stopped Jason Zucker on a penalty shot early in the third, but just 26 seconds later, the lead was cut to 3-2 anyway — by Zucker, who deflected Tage Thompson’s shot.
The new-look top line of Anders Lee, Bo Horvat and Jean-Gabriel Pageau, however, came up with an insurance goal when Horvat collected a missed shot from Lee behind the net and fed Pageau, who tapped in the puck as Devon Levi was caught out of position.
That ended up being crucial after Owen Power got a goal back for the Sabres at five-on-six, but Buffalo could not finish the job.
Make no mistake, this game was ugly at times, with puck management an issue and the Islanders enduring extended time in their own end as a result.
Dylan Cozens opened the scoring on a power play goal for the Sabres as he got to Rasmus Dahlin’s rebound 9:43 into the game.
Bo Horvat — the lone remaining member of the opening night top line — quickly served up an answer, converting a backhand shot off a breakaway just 40 seconds later.
It didn’t change the flow of play, but it did serve to lift some of the collective weight off the shoulders of a team that hadn’t seen a puck hit nylon since the first period last Saturday.
That was a gotta-have-it moment for the Islanders, who looked in danger of spiraling after committing consecutive penalties and quickly allowing a goal on the second.
It was a gotta-have-it game, really — especially after all the injuries.
The Rangers await Sunday at The Garden. The Islanders could use some good news between now and then.