Alex Lyon made 26 saves for his ninth straight victory, tying a Buffalo Sabres franchise record, as the team defeated the New York Islanders 5-0 at UBS Arena on January 24, 2026. Jason Zucker scored twice in the win, which marked the Islanders' first shutout of the season. The Sabres improved to 18-3-1 in their past 22 games.
The Buffalo Sabres continued their strong form with a dominant 5-0 shutout victory over the New York Islanders at UBS Arena in Elmont, N.Y., on Saturday. Goaltender Alex Lyon anchored the defense, stopping all 26 shots he faced to secure his second shutout of the season and tie Gerry Desjardins' franchise record of nine consecutive wins from 1976-77. Lyon's streak began on December 9 with an overtime win in Edmonton, though he missed three weeks due to an upper-body injury sustained on December 29.
"[Lyon] just comes to the rink every day and works his bag off," Sabres defenseman Mattias Samuelsson said. "He's a good pro... whenever we need a big save out of him, he steps up and makes them."
Offensively, Jason Zucker led the way with two goals, opening the scoring at 0:33 of the second period on a rebound past Islanders goalie David Rittich, who made 16 saves in the loss. Tage Thompson extended the lead to 2-0 at 19:47 of the second, capitalizing on a pass from Zach Benson after Rittich slid out of position. Zucker struck again just 25 seconds into the third for a 3-0 advantage, assisted by Ryan McLeod.
Lyon preserved the shutout with key stops in the second period, including a blocker save on a shorthanded breakaway by Mathew Barzal and another on Max Shabanov's breakaway. Islanders coach Patrick Roy benched forwards Anders Lee, Barzal, and Anthony Duclair for the third period after they were on the ice for Thompson's goal, emphasizing accountability in backchecking.
"Backchecking is an important part of our game... it requires will," Roy said.
Rasmus Dahlin added an empty-net goal at 14:02 of the third, followed by Alex Tuch's deflection at 14:38 for the final margin. The win moved the Sabres (29-17-5) into third place in the Atlantic Division temporarily, while the Islanders (27-19-5) suffered their first blanking of the season after a 3-3-1 road trip. Bo Horvat returned for New York after missing nine games with a lower-body injury, logging 19:20 of ice time with four shots. Defenseman Ryan Pulock sat out day-to-day with an upper-body issue, replaced by Isaiah George.