by By John Vogl - NEWS SPORTS REPORTER , Buffalo News

The Buffalo Sabres had a frightful Halloween on Long Island, the kind of slasher flick that makes folks cringe. The New York Islanders cut them down without mercy, earning a 5-0 victory in Nassau Coliseum.

"The only thing you can be disappointed with is we didn't take advantage of the offense," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "We did a lot of good things. We just didn't score."

The loss was the Sabres' first on the road, dropping them to 4-1 away from home this season.

The defeat also halted a four-game winning streak and brought a sudden end to Ryan Miller's sizzling start. He suffered his first regulation loss, falling to 8-1-1. The Sabres fell to 8-2-1.

"It's one of those kind of nights where it just didn't shake out," Miller said.

Not all the wounds were inflicted by the Islanders. The Sabres had numerous chances to hurt the Islanders and their 8,889 fans, but Buffalo repeatedly skated away with its goodie bag empty.

The Sabres took the first eight shots. The power play went 0 for 3 in the first period and 0 for 5 for the game. Thomas Vanek missed one open net and hit a defenseman's skate on another.

"This one falls on me," Vanek said. "I'm the goal scorer here, and I could have put the Islanders away in the first period myself, and I didn't. From that end, it's disappointing."

When the Sabres weren't failing, Martin Biron was succeeding. The goaltender improved to 7-2-1 against his former team, stopping all 38 shots he faced. The victory was his first with the Islanders and the 200th of his career.

"It's great," Biron said. "I've felt like I've been getting better after each game and slowly getting the way I want to play. It's good to give the guys a bit of a confidence boost."

It was quite a change of pace in the other crease. Miller entered the game leading the NHL in goals-against average and save percentage. He ended the game sitting alone in a chair in the arena hallway. Miller was pulled with 7:40 left in the second period when the Sabres fell into a 3-0 hole.

"They get three on me, and normally you like to stay in, but I think 3-0 at that point Lindy wants to get a different kind of look to the game," said Miller, who stopped 13 of 16 shots.

Ruff used Miller on back-to-back nights and for the 10th time in 11 games because the Sabres are off until Wednesday, when the Islanders make the trip to Buffalo and HSBC Arena.

While the Sabres had trouble solving Biron -- it helped that New York blocked 18 shots through two periods -- the Isles took advantage of breaks at the other end. Jeff Tambellini was the most active, recording a hat trick.

Richard Park stole the puck from defenseman Tyler Myers and ripped a glove-side slap shot in the final minute of the first period to open the scoring.

Tambellini scored twice in a span of 3:04 midway through the second to end Miller's night. First, he banked a shot off Miller's left arm, then he blasted a one-timer home from the left circle.

"I thought he played good," Ruff said. "The first shot, a perfect shot by Park. The one in the slot, there's nothing you can do about that. I think if your goalie gives up maybe one bad goal in 10 games, it's pretty tough to complain."

The Sabres weren't hurt as bad by illness as Ruff assumed they would be, but they had to make numerous roster changes nonetheless.

Paul Gaustad and Patrick Kaleta didn't make the trip, forcing defenseman Nathan Paetsch to play left wing on the fourth line. Defenseman Andrej Sekera, who missed the previous seven games with a rib injury, was activated and played with Steve Montador.

Tim Kennedy and Jochen Hecht, who weren't able to start the second period of Friday's 3-2 victory over Toronto, were healthier than expected but still not 100 percent.

e-mail: jvogl@buffnews.com

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