Islanders 4, Senators 2 (EN): Stealing a win streak
“You’re a criminal, Ilya.” | Photo by André Ringuette/NHLI via Getty Images
Sorokin and the special teams(?!) lead the Islanders to a win despite hitting the net with only 13 shots. The New York Islanders robbed the Ottawa Senators of a regulation win tonight in Kanata, Ontario. They fired a mere 13 shots on goal, the lowest total shots on goal the Islanders have recorded in a win since Butch Goring shepherded the team, back in October 2000.
They were able to do so, and get back to NHL .500 plus seven OT losses, unsurprisingly on the back of Ilya Sorokin (although he played both halves of the back-to-back), and quite surprisingly on the back of their special teams: The power play went 2-for-2 and created the game-winner, and the penalty kill only gave up one goal but also killed off two other penalties at critical points in the game.
In getting this win, the Islanders won consecutive games for only the second time this season, and the first time in a month.
[GameCenter | Game Summary | Event Summary | Natural Stat Trick | HockeyViz]
Ottawa came roaring out of the gate, and the Islanders needed to weather the storm. However, they gave up the first goal of the game for the second straight night—and it didn’t matter!—this time only 5:37 into the contest. Noah Gregor made a nice move toward the net and hit Adam Gaudette with a backdoor pass for a tap-in and a 1-0 Senators lead.
But the Islanders got into the game and notched two goals in 2:21 to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead thanks to some characteristic goals. The Islanders got a power play due to Claude Giroux's high-sticking Max Tsyplakov and converted. They won a faceoff early in the man advantage and worked the puck around to the point, where Noah Dobson fired a shot that created a rebound to allow Anders Lee to do his thing, cleaning it up around Anton Forsberg at 12:27. Kyle Palmieri notched a secondary assist for his 500th NHL point.
Lee nets one and Palmieri gets his 500th NHL point!#LGI | @ford pic.twitter.com/ltPDIaZe6O— New York Islanders (@NYIslanders) December 8, 2024
Then the fourth line contributed a greasy goal with some help from Dennis Cholowski. Pierre Engvall, back in the lineup after last night’s health bomb, did what he does best, creating time and space in the offensive zone while his linemates joined him. He got the puck to Cholowski pinching down low, and Cholowski fed the puck toward the crease where Kyle MacLean got a piece of it and knocked it past Forsberg.
Cholowski + MacLean = #LGI | @ford pic.twitter.com/ITwW2CHlkj— New York Islanders (@NYIslanders) December 8, 2024
The Islanders ended the first with a 2-1 lead but on the kill to start the second. Palmieri had taken an interference penalty late in the first, and the kill carried over to the middle period; Ottawa used it to tie the game at 2-2 thanks to some pretty passing from Tim Stutzle to Drake Batherson and then to Josh Norris to finish off the backdoor pass.
No more goals were scored in the second period, but the Senators took it to the Islanders. It felt like the Islanders were trapped in their own end most of the second, but they did kill off a high-sticking penalty by MacLean.
Frankly, the Islanders were trapped in the defensive zone in the third period as well. In fact, they got outshot in the third 12-3. But two of those three Islanders' shots found the back of the night as Sorokin stood tall. The Islanders first killed off another penalty, Oliver Wahlstrom’s offensive zone tripping call. Then, the Islanders got a power play of their own and converted.
Palmieri lunged to catch a pass from Dobson at the point and took a tumble, but he managed to hold onto the puck until Lee came to support him. Both players found space down low, and Lee fed the puck back to Palmieri, who glided in a stride and snapped the puck past Forsberg. The Islanders took a 3-2 lead with 6:14 left in regulation.
Palmieri makes it 3-2! #LGI | @ford pic.twitter.com/pvuMqbQEFf— New York Islanders (@NYIslanders) December 9, 2024
That wasn’t the end of the game, though. The Senators pushed back hard and pulled Forsberg for the extra attacker pretty early, with just under three minutes to go. The Islanders missed a couple of empty nets, and there was an eerie feeling in the air, but Sorokin blocked what came at him; the defenders blocked a lot of shots, as well.
Finally, Bo Horvat scored his second goal in as many games, hitting the empty net from the Isles’ zone. Patrick Roy called a timeout right after that goal to reinforce the message and let his players breathe, and the Islanders closed out a stolen win.
The Isles have played more games than almost everyone around them in the standings, but they have the same number of points as the Rangers, currently in the last wild-card spot and coming off an Islanders-like loss to the Kraken earlier this afternoon.
Up Next
This one-off road trip was a success, and the Islanders head back home in search of their first three-game win streak of the season when they host the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m....
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