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Islanders' new acquisitions down Sabres in season opener

Oct 6, 2007 - 3:55 AM By Dave Whalen PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

BUFFALO, New York (Ticker) -- If one game is any indication of how to shop the free-agent market, the New York Islanders invested wisely.

Mike Comrie, captain Bill Guerin and Ruslan Fedotenko combined for three goals and 10 points to lead the Islanders to a season-opening 6-4 victory over the Buffalo Sabres in the first game of a home-and-home series on Friday night.

Comrie had two goals and two assists, Fedotenko scored one tally and set up another and Guerin collected three assists for New York, which tallied twice in the second period to take a lead it would not relinquish.

"I thought they were great for us," Islanders coach Ted Nolan said. "As the second and third period went on, those three guys in particular really took control of the game."

Fedotenko did not want to get too excited about his performance.

"It's long road, it's game No. 1," he said. "We can't really think too far. We need to see what's ahead and prepare for the next game."

The Islanders suffered key losses during the offseason, none bigger than All-Star 40-goal scorer Jason Blake. But New York leaned on some key newcomers to open the campaign with a win against one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference.

"Everybody wants to come to a new team and do really well," Fedotenko said. "It's just normal as a human being, everybody wants to do well. I think it's nothing special.

"It was our night, kind of. We played really well. Hopefully, the next night we'll play well and somebody else will step up. That's the definition of a good team, and I think we have a good team."

With the game even at 4-4, the 27-year-old Comrie netted the go-ahead tally on a breakaway as he stole the puck from Sabres defenseman Toni Lydman at the blue line and got in tight before popping a shot over goaltender Ryan Miller's glove with 3:56 to go in the second.

"Billy Guerin made a nice play, got the puck out. I chipped it by the defenseman," Comrie said. "I had to pull from my backhand, so I think I might have caught Miller off-guard, just chipped it over his shoulder.

"He's a great goaltender, he doesn't give you much room. When he gives you an inch, you have to take it."

Thomas Vanek had tied the game on a breakaway at 8:23, receiving a goalmouth pass from Nathan Paetsch at New York's blue line and slapping it over netminder Rick DiPietro's left shoulder.

Despite the loss, Vanek kept a positive outlook after the contest.

"To give up six in the opener is disappointing, but the only positive is, we're going to the Island and have a rematch with them (Saturday)," he said.

The Sabres opened the scoring 2:56 into the game, when defenseman Jaroslav Spacek's point shot at the end of the Sabres' first power play deflected off Miroslav Satan's stick into the upper corner of the net.

The Islanders responded on a delayed penalty as Josef Vasicek one-timed blue-liner Bruno Gervais' pass from the slot past Miller.

Derek Roy snapped the 1-1 tie for Buffalo with 7:56 left in the opening session. However, New York took full advantage of a 5-on-3 power play just over four minutes later.

Fedotenko snapped Guerin's pass by Miller with just under four minutes left in the period to make it 2-2, and defenseman Chris Campoli tallied just 34 seconds later as he cut across the crease and redirected Fedotenko's pass into the net to put the Islanders ahead.

"We were trying to press a little bit too much instead of trying to keep it simple and making the easy play," Roy said. "We definitely didn't play as well defensively as we could have. The puck was bouncing a lot, and they got a lot of the bounces. On the defensive aspect, we've got to tighten up."

Buffalo answered late in the period as Drew Stafford got to the net with some fancy maneuvers before sliding the puck under DiPietro to tie the game at 3-3 with 1:41 left.

Comrie netted his first of the contest at 7:35 of the second to put New York back in front.

Trent Hunter capped the scoring with a power-play goal at 7:05 of the third.

DiPietro made 22 saves for the Islanders, who outshot the Sabres, 34-26.

Miller turned away 28 shots for Buffalo.

"We made some big mistakes, Toni made one (on Comrie's go-ahead goal)," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "Did I mention the player we left in front of the net on the power-play goal? That was another big mistake by a defenseman.

"I didn't think our defense played that well and our forwards turned the puck over a lot. That's a recipe for losing a hockey game."