Sam Reinhart breaks tie late in third period after Buffalo blows a 3-goal lead.
By Joe Yerdon / NHL.com Correspondent
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Sam Reinhart broke a tie with 4:14 remaining in the third period, and the Buffalo Sabres defeated the New York Islanders 4-3 at KeyBank Center on Thursday.
Reinhart’s 11th goal of the season came when he swept a rebound of a shot by Evan Rodrigues past Islanders goaltender Jaroslav Halak.
Jack Eichel, Rodrigues and Ryan O’Reilly also scored for the Sabres (15-29-10), who ended a four-game losing streak (0-3-1) with their 1,000th regular season home win. Robin Lehner made 26 saves.
John Tavares, Ross Johnston and Anders Lee scored for the Islanders (26-23-6), who have lost four of their past five games (1-3-1). Halak made 18 saves.
Reinhart helped the Sabres get out to a 3-0 lead when he assisted on first-period goals by Eichel (7:41) and Rodrigues (13:21). O’Reilly’s power-play goal at 7:18 of the second period made it 3-0.
The Islanders scored three straight goals to tie the game.
Tavares made it 3-1 at 13:06 when he put a loose puck past Lehner after a shot by Thomas Hickey was tipped by Brock Nelson.
Johnston made it 3-2 with his second goal at 7:30 of the third period, and Lee’s 28th of the season, on the power play, made it 3-3 at 14:33.