Teppo Numminen wanted no part of it. The list of good things the Buffalo Sabres did Saturday was being relayed to him, and it was long. But only one thing mattered to the defenseman. His team had lost — again.

"It's not good enough," he said following the 4-2 loss to the New York Islanders. "It's not good enough. If you don't win, it's not good enough. We've got to play better."

Of that, there is no doubt. The Sabres lost for the fifth straight time, the first time since March 2006 they have lost that many in a row in regulation. It's part of a 1-6-1 run that has dropped the Sabres to ninth place in the Eastern Conference, the first time all season they have been out of a playoff position.

"It's a tight league and everybody is up there in the same pack," Numminen said. "One bad week, the standings go upside down. You have two bad weeks, you're out of the playoffs."

Frustration filled HSBC Arena following the game, and it's because of a lost opportunity.

As the teams skated to the dressing room after the second period, the mood inside the arena was obvious. It was a sense of, "Here we go again."

The Sabres were working hard, skating well — to put it bluntly, they were absolutely dominating the Islanders — but once again they were being openly mocked by the scoreboard.

The key stats after 40 minutes:

Buffalo held a 31-14 shots advantage.

The Sabres had taken 30 of the last 34 shots. (The Islanders, thanks to three early power plays, opened with 10 of the first 11.)

The Sabres had a ridiculous 18-2 edge in shots during the second period.

New York led, 2-1, and scored the only goal of the second period.

"I know it looked lopsided for two periods, but still on the offensive side of it, we could have done things a little bit better," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "If we had kept our feet moving in a couple of situations it maybe would have created even a better chance."

The mood went from worried to woebegone early in the third period when the Islanders upped the lead to 3-1. Andy Hilbert spotted Bill Guerin cruising into the slot with no Sabres defensemen in sight, and goalie Patrick Lalime had no chance with 4:24 gone.

From there, the Islanders got the better of the play — until Derek Roy ignited the crowd with 4:34 remaining. The center ripped a slap shot from the top of the faceoff circle, and the atmosphere suddenly turned festive and hopeful.

That ended when Mark Streit scored into an empty net with 1.3 seconds left.

Lalime finished with 22 saves, while New York counterpart Joey MacDonald had 35. Lalime was far from at fault on any of the New York goals. Guerin's goal came on a breakdown, and the Isles' first two goals belonged in a pinball game.

Hilbert opened the scoring with 5:40 left in the first period even though he wasn't looking at the puck. Trent Hunter's shot flew like a Frisbee toward the crease, and it bounced off Hilbert and into the net.

New York took its 2-1 lead on a puck that caromed off two players. The power-play shot finally found the net when it hit Jon Sim with 7:41 gone in the second.

"It's hard to take," Lalime said. "We're doing a lot of good things out there, and it just seems we cannot put it in. On the other end, every bounce, every skate, it just goes in."

Buffalo's first goal came courtesy of Mark Mancari, who was rewarded for two games of stellar play with his first NHL goal. It snapped a streak of 126:22 without a goal for the Sabres, who were blanked in a 3-0 loss to Philadelphia on Friday.

"Right to the end, you believe you can win," Numminen said. "But it's not good enough.

"It's frustrating. We know we had our chances. They're just not going in. We need that extra push to score more goals."

The Sabres are off until Wednesday, when they host the Boston Bruins.

"When things are not going too good, you don't feel good about it," Lalime said. "But I think you've just got to stick with it."