In Elmont, the Islanders’ Ilya Sorokin made 23 saves in a 2-0 shutout of the visiting Detroit Red Wings on Friday night.
The win snapped a six-game losing streak for the Islanders, they improved to 24-22-5 with the win.
“We were moving our feet,” the Isles Kyle Palmieri said. “We did a good job. They had a couple of chances in the offensive zone, but it really wasn’t much. So, we just did a good job of breaking pucks out, getting up ice and getting on the forecheck. That’s kind of our bread and butter as a team, and creating offense off that forecheck is how we’re successful. We were able to do that tonight.”
Anders Lee scored at 4:44 of the second period to give the Isles a 1-0 lead.
“It was a solid game,” Lee said. “We stepped up. We did what we had to do. This was a really solid effort from Sorokin on out.”
The Islanders are 2-7-3 in their last 12 games and host the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday; Vegas lost to the Rangers on Friday, 4-1.
“We know we have to put some wins together, and it starts with the first one and this was it,” New York coach Lane Lambert said. “It’s nice to see our guys get rewarded. We’ve had some games where we’ve deserved better than we’ve gotten. That’s tough, but tonight we got what we deserved, and it was a victory. We played well.”
Brock Nelson hit for a goal at 4:31 of the third for the 2-0 final.
Detroit dropped to 21-19-8.
“This is exactly what we could have asked for,” Detroit coach Derek Lalonde said. “We gave ourselves a chance. Probably our best push was the end of the second, and those were our best looks. We just couldn’t get one past [Sorokin] then. And they were OK in the third, but obviously not enough to get one behind him.”
Magnus Hellberg made 26 saves in the Detroit loss.
“They make it hard,” Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin said of the Islanders. “They [have] big [defensemen], they get the matchups they want [at home], and there were some times we [had] some pressure.
“We just didn’t get the puck past Sorokin tonight. He made some big saves, especially in the third; the one on ‘Fil’ Hronek, the one on (David Perron at 4:47). It’s the story of the night. Sorokin was really good.”
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