The Lightning will be very glad they don’t have to face Ilya Sorokin again this season.
Just a week after Sorokin shut them out at Tampa Bay, the Islanders’ star netminder carried his team to a third win over the Lightning in as many tries on Saturday.
The Islanders were outplayed, outgunned and outmanned without Bo Horvat, who remained day-to-day with a lower-body injury.
But thanks to Sorokin, they took a 3-2 victory on Emil Heineman’s shootout winner and a sweep of the season series against the Lightning for the first time since 2013.
Combined with Pat LaFontaine’s emotional induction into the Islanders’ Hall of Fame, it made for a perfect afternoon for the organization.
At least for a few hours, the Islanders were even atop the Eastern Conference, with the Capitals and Hurricanes both playing later in the evening.
LaFontaine was happy to point out the connection between himself and superstar rookie Matthew Schaefer, who shares the same agency, Newport Sports, which represented him as a player.
“He just turned 18 and I don’t want to say that, but the word generational talent starts to [come up],” LaFontaine said during a midgame availability. “We thought he was gonna be really good. He’s special. He’s a special player.”
That was after Schaefer had already gotten on the board 3:05 into the match, ripping a one-timer past Jonas Johansson at 4-on-3 on the Islanders’ first shot of the game.
The Isles’ other star rookie, Cal Ritchie, scored just seven minutes after Schaefer, with Anthony Duclair feeding him on the rush for a 2-0 lead.
The problem for the Islanders was that was pretty much the only offense they got for most of the game.
Heading into the third, they were hanging on tight to a 2-1 lead, having been outshot 17-1 in the second period with Darren Raddysh’s power-play one-timer the only one to connect for the Lightning.
Just 3:20 into the third, though, J.J. Moser connected from the left circle to tie the game at two, finally beating Sorokin with a shot that found the roof of the net.
That did nothing to change the flow of a game that was all Lightning from the early goings.
At a certain point in the third, it looked like if the Islanders could get a point from getting the game to overtime, it would be more than they deserved.
Not only did they get one after Raddysh’s attempt with about 20 seconds to go hit the post.
They got a second, thanks again to Sorokin.
The goaltender extended the game into a shootout with a two-on-one stop on Jake Guentzel in overtime, then bested Johansson in the skills competition.
It’s not a very sustainable way to win, and there were red flags all over the Islanders’ game.
The fourth line struggled, as did a reconstructed second line with Ritchie centering Duclair and Max Shabanov.
There was no cycle game at all, and the breakouts were a grade below what the Islanders have come to expect.
Sorokin, though, was every bit as good as the Islanders have come to expect.
And some nights, that is enough.
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