<p>BUFFALO, N.Y. — Michael Houser stopped 34 shots in his NHL debut, Sam Reinhart scored twice in Buffalo’s three-goal third period and the Sabres beat the playoff-bound New York Islanders 4-2 on Monday night.</p>
<p>Tage Thompson and Rasmund Asplund also scored for Buffalo, which trailed 2-0 early in the second period.</p>
<p>Houser spent the past 8 1/2 seasons in the minor leagues. It was his first game since March 7, 2020, with Cincinnati of the ECHL.</p>
<p>Adam Pelech and Oliver Wahlstrom scored for the Islanders. Semyon Varlamov, coming off three straight shutouts, finished with 36 saves.</p>
<p>The Islanders fell to fourth place in the Eastern Division —one point behind Boston, which beat New Jersey 3-0. The Bruins also have a game in-hand on the Islanders.</p>
<p>The teams finish their season series Tuesday night in Buffalo.</p>
<p>Thompson’s power-play goal got the Sabres on the scoreboard with 5:56 left in the second period and ended Varlamov’s shutout streak at 248 minutes. </p>
<p>Asplund tied the score with 8:35 remaining in the third.</p>
<p>Reinhart gave the Sabres a 3-2 lead with 4:04 left and sealed the win with an empty-netter, his career high-tying 25th, with 52 seconds to go.</p>
<p>SABRES ADD A GOALIE </p>
<p>Buffalo signed goalie Stefanos Lekkas to a professional tryout deal on Monday. Lekkas was the backup for the Sabres AHL team in Rochester and is 1-4-1 with a .863 save percentage with a 4.32 goals-against average. He backed up Houser on Monday night due to injuries to goalies Dustin Tokarski, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, Carter Hutton, and Linus Ullmark.</p>
<p>LINEUP NOTES</p>
<p>Sabres: Tokarski did not dress for the Sabres. Interim coach Don Granato said Monday morning they wanted to give Tokarski a day off and see where he is at </p>
<p>Islanders: Forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau was replaced by Travis Zajac in the lineup. Pageau missed part of the third period of the Islanders’ 3-0 win against the Rangers on Saturday</p>
