Jack Quinn and Tage Thompson each scored a goal and had an assist for the Sabres, who have won two consecutive games following a three-game losing streak (0-1-2). Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 25 saves.
Buffalo regained the top spot in the Atlantic Division, two points ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning, who lost 4-1 to the Montreal Canadiens but have played one less game.
“I think overall tonight we were responding well,” Luukkonen said. “It was a slower-paced game. We were creating, but still they tried to slow our play down. I feel like we stuck with it. Especially after that tying goal, we didn’t give them much and started to create more. Overall, I think we played really well today.”
Brayden Schenn contributed a goal and an assist, Bo Horvat had three assists, and Ilya Sorokin made 29 saves for the Islanders (42-29-5), who were coming off an 8-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday.
New York maintained third place in the Metropolitan Division, one point ahead of the Columbus Blue Jackets, who lost 5-2 to the Carolina Hurricanes but have a game in hand.
“Last game we gave up eight goals, so, I mean, you want to make sure you play well defensively, and our tracking was outstanding,” New York coach Patrick Roy said. “… I thought we did a good job, and we played tight playoff hockey. It was a hard-fought game. I thought both teams had some good looks, and both teams played well defensively.”
Krebs broke the tie to give Buffalo a 3-2 lead at 16:59 of the third period. Alex Tuch skated around the net before passing to Krebs, who scored past Sorokin.
“You could tell that shift that (Tuch) had his legs and he was feeling it,” Krebs said. “He had a lot of speed there doing his thing that he usually does, and I kind of had a feeling he was going to throw it in there, and I just had to be in the right spot at the right time.”
Bowen Byram scored an empty-net goal at 18:17 to make it 4-2 before Schenn scored with two seconds left for the final score of 4-3.
Quinn opened the scoring for Buffalo with a power-play goal at 14:19 of the first period. Quinn received the puck at the left point and scored with a wrist shot to give the Sabres a 1-0 lead.
