The Islanders walked out of New Jersey with a point, but the night belonged to Ilya Sorokin in the most brutal way possible. He faced 50 shots, turned aside 45 of them, and still ended up taking the loss after the Devils erased a two-goal deficit and finished the job in overtime.
New York’s offense did enough early to build a 4-2 lead, with Anthony Duclair, Victor Eklund and Simon Holmstrom all finding the net. Matthew Schaefer added the other goal, though that one came with the kind of expectation attached that the source itself made clear.
The Islanders opened the scoring when Emil Heineman stayed with the play and set up Duclair after Jake Allen was unable-by-law to touch a dump in outside the trapezoid. New Jersey answered 17 seconds later, but the Islanders responded again two minutes after that on Schaefer’s fifth goal of the season.
Later in the second period, Eklund pushed the lead to 4-2. The sequence started with Tony DeAngelo’s shot after a strong stretch of Islanders pressure, and Eklund was there in the crease to finish the rebound. Heineman was right there too, ready if Eklund missed.
The game tightened up in a messy late-second-period scrum that produced five penalties, with the Islanders somehow ending up with the extra one. That handed the Devils a power play that carried over into the third, and New Jersey used the momentum from there.
Trailing by two entering the final period, the Devils came out pressing hard and kept it up after the power play expired. Sorokin stacked up save after save before Luke Evangelista managed to track down an airborne rebound behind the net, miss on the finish, and still have the puck bounce in off Sorokin’s back.
The Islanders then got buried in penalty trouble, which only sharpened their frustration because they felt they had gone without a call all night. Still, the penalties were there. A 5-on-3 created by a tough-luck Adam Pelech high stick was killed off, but the Devils cashed in on the rest of the 5-on-4 to tie it.
The overtime finish was the one that will linger. Schaefer was taken down by Luke Hughes on a rush, and the Devils turned it into a 2-on-0 the other way.
Jack Hughes scored the winner. Whether it was a penalty was left open to debate, though the source pointed out it was the sort of play that “you’ve certainly “seen it given” in the modern NHL where any arm-wrap risks getting called.”
Schaefer’s leg appeared to give out on its own, but Hughes had his arm around him in a way that sometimes draws a whistle.
It was also an ironic twist after Schaefer and Luke Hughes had gone at it earlier in the game, gloves on, during that second-period scrum.
In the end, the Devils got the win, Sorokin absorbed five goals against after a night of heavy lifting, and the Islanders headed to California with one point in hand.
In Other News...
Islanders Attendance Slide Sends A Bigger Message About This Team
A quieter building has become part of the early-season story on Long Island, and it says something beyond just the numbers on the turnstiles. Through the first stretch of home games, the Islanders have not given fans many new reasons to show up in bigger waves, even with a few names on the roster who can still draw interest. The concern, as Arthur Staple points out, is less about one rough week than about a franchise that has not clearly defined where it is headed.
For a fan base that wants a team worth investing in, the current mood feels familiar in the wrong way. The Islanders do have pieces that can still matter, including Matthew Schaefer and Ilya Sorokin, but promising talent alone does not always fill the seats if the larger picture is hazy. Until the organization gives the market a clearer sense of direction, the attendance dip looks like more than a temporary lull. [Read more 🡒]
Islanders May Finally Get The Speed Boost Their Top Six Needs
The Islanders top six may soon get a needed jolt of pace, with Mathew Barzal and Matias Maccelli making visible progress at practice. Both forwards have moved out of non-contact jerseys and into regular warm-up gear, a small but meaningful sign that they are getting closer to returning from injury as New York looks to sharpen its attack.
Ryan Pulock is still working back in a non-contact jersey from an upper-body injury, so the blue line remains a separate question. For now, the Islanders are hoping all three players can be available for the upcoming three-game road trip to California, though each will still need to clear further medical evaluation before anything is settled. [Read more 🡒]
Islanders Resilience Is Being Tested In A Way Fans Know Too Well
The Islanders have spent the early part of the season living on the edge of the playoff picture, and the fact that they are still hanging around it says something about how well they have weathered a rough stretch. A 7-6-2 start is hardly comfortable, but it looks sturdier when measured against the injuries that have already thinned out the lineup and forced others into bigger roles. Head coach Peter DeBoer has pointed to the teams effort and structure as the reason it has stayed afloat, with players stepping up to keep the group competitive.
Still, the latest week offered a reminder of how fragile that balance can be. Consecutive losses to the Oilers and Hurricanes pushed the Islanders down in the leagues power rankings, and the margin for error is getting smaller as the schedule wears on. With key contributors already unavailable, the challenge now is not just surviving the next few games, but doing so without letting the season drift away from the identity that has kept them in the hunt so far. [Read more 🡒]