You’d assume Tuesday’s home date against Detroit, one in which they scored an impressive 6-2 victory on national television over a team that’s played in the last two Stanley Cup finals, was the measuring-stick game for the Buffalo Sabres.

But the next two games could prove more important.

A pair of home contests against lesser-lights in the New York Islanders and Atlanta Thrashers could go a long way in showing the Sabres plan to stay near the top of the Northeast Division standings. Last year, Buffalo struggled against both teams, dropping a total of six games to the two teams.

Coach Lindy Ruff said he’s liked what he’s seen from his team through the first four contests, and he doesn’t expect the squad to lose it’s focus this weekend.

“What we realize is that it’s a long year. You going to have some tough times, you’re going to have some good ones. I like the fact that we came out of training camp, we had a good camp, and we stayed locked in,” Ruff said. “Now it’s just to maintain. You’re going to get some breaks in games that make a difference. You’re going to have a have some breaks that go against you.

“But there a lot of little areas that you can control. And we need to keep controlling them.”

Star Thomas Vanek did practice with the team on Thursday, but he’s not expected to play in either contest. Vanek suffered an upper-body injury in Tuesday’s win. Consider than Vanek was originally expected to be out for weeks, Ruff seems content to let his star sniper sit this weekend.

“We were pleasantly surprised he felt the way he did (Wednesday), and even more surprised he was out trying to practice (Thursday). That’s all good things, but it’s still not quite where we think we need him to be,” Ruff said. “One day, I don’t think is going to make a world of difference. But he’s close.”

The Sabres will get their first look at phenom John Tavares, who’s registered a team-leading five points in the team’s opening four games. Matt Moulson, the brother of former Niagara University women’s hockey defenseman Shannon Moulson, also has a pair of goals for the Islanders.

“They haven’t been giving up much,” Ruff said of the Islanders. “They’ve been pretty sound defensively. We’ve got to play our game, and we’ve got to be on top of our game.

“It can’t be a game where we take them for granted.”

Jason Pominville, who has yet to score in the team’s four games, said he thinks the team is keeping its composure at crucial times, and that should translate to success against lower-level teams.

“We lost a lot of points last year against teams that were lower than us in the standings,” he said. “But we’re disciplined, sticking to our system. The perfect example is the game in Nashville. It’s a tie game, in the past we might have slipped away from our system, trying to score goals instead of sticking to our system. The goals will come.”



GAME NIGHT

Islanders at Sabres

• WHEN: 7:30 p.m. tonight

• WHERE: HSBC Arena

• RADIO: 550-AM

• TV: MSG

• NOTES: After tonight’s game with Isles, Sabres follow with another home date against Atlanta on Saturday. Buffalo lost a combined six times to the islanders and Predators last season. ... Former Sabre Martin Biron could get the start in net for the Islanders, see Sabres Dose, 3B. ... Thomas Vanek will not play, but he did practice with the squad and he could return next week. ... Derek Roy hasn’t notched his first goal, but he leads the team with five assists.