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Grabner's third-period goals boost Isles over Sabres

Jan 15, 2012 - 5:18 AM Uniondale, NY (Sports Network) - Michael Grabner scored two goals, including the game-winner late in the third period as the New York Islanders skated past the Buffalo Sabres, 4-2, at Nassau Coliseum.

Matt Moulson had a goal and an assist and Kyle Okposo also found the back of the net for the Islanders, who bounced back from a 3-2 defeat at the hands of the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday. John Tavares and P.A. Parenteau added a pair of assists apiece and Evgeni Nabokov made 23 saves in the victory for New York.

Patrick Kaleta and Derek Roy scored for the Sabres, who have lost four of their last five games. Jonas Enroth gave up three goals on 38 shots in defeat.

Grabner's game-winner came at the 16:57 mark of the final period when Mark Streit fired a shot on net that was stopped by Enroth, but he left a big rebound out front and the speedy forward pounced on it and popped it into the net to give the Islanders the lead for good, 3-2.

"Grabs (Grabner) works extremely hard every night," Islanders head coach Jack Capuano said. "He's getting his chances. He hasn't gotten the bounces that he's wanted, but tonight he was in the right place at the right time on that rebound and put it in the back of the net for us, which was great to see."

Buffalo had a golden opportunity to get the game back to even when sniper Thomas Vanek was awarded a penalty shot at 18:36 of the third stanza, but Nabokov came up with a huge save to essentially preserve the win for New York.

Grabner would add an empty-netter, his second goal of the game, for good measure with 30 seconds to play.

The Islanders struck first at 13:10 of the first period when Travis Hamonic fired a slap shot from the point that went wide of the net, but caromed off the back boards right to Moulson, who slid it past Enroth to give the Isles the 1-0 lead.

Buffalo tied it at 14:48 of the second frame when Kaleta tipped home a slap shot off the stick of Mike Weber.

New York though, came up with an answer at 16:16 of the second stanza to take a 2-1 lead when Moulson brought the puck up the left wing and broke in on a 2- on-1 with Okposo. Moulson held the puck as long as he could before feeding it to a wide-open Okposo, who tapped it home.

The Sabres knotted it just 42 seconds later when Nabokov came out of his net to play the puck. He spun the puck up the wall but it went right to an unchecked Nathan Gerbe, who ripped a quick shot on net from a sharp angle that Nabokov kicked out, but the rebound went right to Roy, who snapped it home with authority.

"It was a night of some terrible giveaways by a lot of defensemen," Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff said. "You put guys in the big situation, some guys can succeed and some guys have a tougher time."

Game Notes

Buffalo still leads the all-time series between the teams, 68-59-21...Earlier in the day, the Islanders announced that goaltender Rick DiPietro will undergo surgery to correct a sports hernia and will be sidelined for 10 weeks...Tavares extended his career-best point streak to eight games...New York went 0-for-2 on the power play, while Buffalo failed to convert on its only man advantage opportunity...New York will host the Nashville Predators on Monday, while Buffalo will travel to Detroit to face the Red Wings, also on Monday.