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BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) -- Doug Gilmour lived up to his tenacious, offensive billing in his Buffalo Sabres debut.
Gilmour took control from the start and led the way with two assists as the Sabres held off the New York Islanders 4-2 Sunday.
|  | | Doug Gilmour made himself at home in a Buffalo uniform and made things happen in the Islanders zone. |
The center, acquired in Friday's deal that sent Michal Grosek to Chicago, said it was important that he and the Sabres got going early.
"You want to dominate right off the start of the game and we showed them that we were serious," said Gilmour, who got a loud cheer from the capacity crowd when his name was announced prior to the opening faceoff.
"It makes it harder when teams keep coming and coming after you. We wanted to set the tempo and we did that."
Chris Gratton, acquired in a separate deal with Tampa Bay on Friday, also made a big contribution, scoring a goal and setting up Jason Woolley's go-ahead score as Buffalo crept back into playoff contention.
The Sabres, in 11th place in the Eastern Conference, are within two points of Pittsburgh and Montreal, which hold the final two playoff positions.
Jay McKee and Craig Patrick also scored for the Sabres and Curtis Brown had two assists.
Dmitri Nabakov and Tim Connolly had goals for the Islanders, who were outshot 33-16, matching a season-low for shots.
Gilmour's presence sparked the Sabres to one of their most dominating first periods of the season, in which Buffalo outshot New York 16-4.
The only thing standing in the Sabres' way was goalie Kevin Weekes, who kept the game tied at 1 through 20 minutes.
Playing alongside Brown and Miroslav Satan, Gilmour had a hand in Jay McKee's game-opening goal, set up a couple of other opportunities and had a few scoring chances of his own.
Not bad for someone playing for the first time after missing five games -- including his last four with Chicago -- with bruised ribs.
"I was pleasantly surprised," said Gilmour who logged more than 20 minutes of ice time. "I had great legs and felt pretty confident and comfortable ... my legs came through for me."
The Sabres certainly liked what they saw from their new veteran.
"To finally get out there and be a part of our team, it was very exciting," said Woolley, who has scored in three straight games. "You can see the way we came out and had a lot of emotion early."
Even the Islanders, very much out of the playoffs, were impressed by the difference in the Sabres. New York beat Buffalo at home eight days earlier.
"It's a whole different team from the last time we played them," Connolly said. "Anytime a team in the playoff hunt trades for some good players, it gets the whole team excited."
The Sabres finally solved Weekes when Woolley broke a 1-1 tie with 1:40 left in the second.
Vladimir Tsyplakov set the goal up by checking Islanders defenseman Aris Brimanis off the puck behind the New York net. Gratton, beating New York's Mariusz Czerkawski to the puck, made a blind-centering pass to Woolley who scored into the open side.
Patrick, converting Curtis Brown's rebound, gave the Sabres a 3-1 lead 1:46 into the third.
Connolly answered less than four minutes later, by deflecting in Jamie Rivers' shot, to cut the deficit to one goal.
Gratton, who had an assist in his Sabres' debut on Friday, sealed the win by scoring into an empty net with 15.1 seconds remaining.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
NY Islanders Clubhouse
Buffalo Clubhouse
Sabres strike again; acquire Gilmour to go with Gratton
RECAPS
Carolina 5
Atlanta 1
Buffalo 4
NY Islanders 2
Nashville 4
Edmonton 3
Dallas 4
St. Louis 2
Chicago 4
Tampa Bay 1
Colorado 3
Philadelphia 1
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Jay McKee scores on an assist from Curtis Brown.
avi: 743 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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