Buffalo, NY (My Sportsbook) - The reborn New York Islanders open their 2002-03 NHL season against the Buffalo Sabres at HSBC Arena Thursday.

The Islanders, who enjoyed the fourth best single-season turnaround in NHL history last year, returned to the postseason for the first time since 1994 after a 42-28-8-4 regular season, good enough for fifth place in the Eastern Conference.

General manager Mike Milbury's big moves paid off as franchise players Michael Peca, Alexei Yashin and goaltender Chris Osgood brought competitive hockey back to Long Island for the first time in years, despite the team's first- round ouster at the hands of the Toronto Maple Leafs in a gritty seven-game series.

Peca became the team leader and responded with career-bests in goals and points (25g, 35a), while Yashin netted 32 goals and 43 assists.

Osgood, acquired in the waiver draft prior to last season from the Detroit Red Wings, was the driving force behind the Isles' fast 9-0-1-1 start from a year ago and posted 32 wins overall with a 2.50 goals-against average.

However, getting off to a quick start will not be that easy this time around, as the team will be without their captain Peca until late December-early January after he was low cut by Toronto's Darcy Tucker in the playoffs and required major reconstructive surgery on his left knee.

To deter cheap-shot artists like Tucker, the Isles went out and acquired tough-man Jason Wiemer from the Florida Panthers.

Yashin will be asked to take on more of a leadership role in the early-going and should be helped by a core of up and coming stars in Oleg Kvasha, who tallied seven goals and a pair of assists in the team's final 12 games last year, and rookie Trent Hunter, who impressed during the postseason.

Defensively New York will also be without a key component in the early-going, as young Radek Martinek will miss the first two weeks of the season because of a strained rib he suffered in an October 1 preseason contest with the Devils. Martinek had his season cut short after the 23rd game last year because of a knee injury.

The Islanders, who are 8-14-8 all-time in season-openers, are unbeaten in their last two trips to Buffalo (1-0-1), but are just 1-5-2 in their last eight visits.

In Buffalo the loss of Dominik Hasek turned into a 16-point dropoff for the Sabres, who missed the playoffs for the first time since 1996. The team finished in 10th place in the Eastern Conference with a 35-35-11-1 record.

More importantly though, the team's parent company, Adelphia Communications, imploded and left the team's future up in the air. The financial peril placed the team on a strict offseason budget, basically leaving just enough cash to re-sign what already existed on the roster. That meant no significant free agent signings, and no serious hope for improvement.

Martin Biron, placed in a nearly impossible spot in filling a legend's shoes, was respectable in his first year away from Hasek's shadow, posting a 2.22 goals-against average and .915 save-percentage in 72 appearances, 69 of them starts.

On the offensive end Miroslav Satan leads the way after an impressive 37 goal, 36 assist season a year ago. The team also hopes that 23-year-old Maxim Afinogenov can improve on his 21 goal campaign and become a 30-goal scorer.

Buffalo, which is 11-6-4 in the last 21 meetings with the Islanders, is 17-12-3 all-time on opening night.