Happy Thanksgiving, Islanders Country 🦃
When they go around the table later this afternoon, be sure to add Ilya Sorokin to the list of things you are grateful for, he was that good on Wednesday night.
Against Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and the Edmonton Oilers, the Islanders gave us an effort to be thankful for, playing one of their more complete games of the season. They had a solid start, a stellar second period, and after taking too many penalties in the third, flexed a strong penalty kill against a really talented offensive team to finish the shutout.
The Islanders carried the pace, managed the puck, and got the usual dazzling saves from Sorokin, who displayed flexibility, athleticism, and exceptional rebound control all night. He was simply dialed in.
His 49 saves against the Oilers were the most ever in an Edmonton shutout loss, and they came in bunches. Edmonton did not record a shot in the opening 12:03 and then had 49 shots on goal in the final 47:57! It’s the third-most saves for an Islanders goalie in a shutout behind only Glenn Healy’s 51-save performance on Jan. 16, 1990, vs. the Vancouver Canucks at the Nassau Coliseum. Jaro Halak had a 50-save shutout against the New York Rangers on Jan. 15, 2018.
Coming up, Simon says he was surprised to be making his NHL debut and JG Pageau’s rare and special performance. Plus, the Isles are where they needed to be for Thanksgiving; Greg Gilbert wins a game at the Garden and a big reveal.
Let’s dive in.
🏒 IN SHORT: Behind a career-high 50 saves from Ilya Sorokin, the Islanders shut out the Edmonton Oilers 3-0 on Wednesday night at UBS Arena. The shutout was Sorokin’s second of the season, and he had to work for it, making 24 saves in the third period. The Isles (13-8-0) scored three times in the second period. JG Pageau scored both a short-handed and power-play goal, and Sebastian Aho converted a pass from Oliver Wahlstrom to extend the lead to three. Jack Campbell made 25 saves for Edmonton (10-10-0) in the loss. Zach Hyman led the team with 11 shots on goal. 2019 1st-round pick Simon Holmstrom made his NHL debut for the Islanders.
KEY MOMENT(s):
🔷 Playing short-handed, Adam Pelech made a heady play to push the puck up to Pageau, who moved it to Zach Parise on the wing. Parise made a perfect return pass to Pageau, darting toward the net for the deflection past Campbell.
🔶 Just 2:06 later, it was Pageau again, this time on the power-play. Mathew Barzal held the puck in the slot and then played it wide to Pageau. His centering pass looked destined for Anders Lee but was deflected off an Oilers’ stick for his second goal of the game and a 2-0 Islanders lee.
Pageau became the 18th different player in Islanders history to score a power-play goal and a shorthanded goal in the same game. Parise did it last season.
3 REACTIONS
❶ A NEW DAY: “I don’t think about this, said Ilya Sorokin when asked if this was the best he felt this season. “Tomorrow I can feel like shit, and…sorry, I remember I can’t say this word." "It's just, tomorrow (is a) new day."
❷ COMMITTED: “I thought we were very committed to playing the right way,” coach Lane Lambert said. “Defending. We had a lot of guys who played very well tonight. Our goaltender played really well and made some big saves. We had some big blocks [15]. Some of those [power-play] shots that came in didn’t get through.”
❸ PLAYED WITH URGENCY: “I thought we showed up tonight,’ said JG Pageau. “We knew we had a big challenge. We played with urgency for the full 60 and Sorokin was, again, outstanding. I think we were very happy just to be back home after a road trip.”
⏭ NEXT UP: The Islanders, like almost all of us, have off on Thanksgiving before back-to-back games against two teams behind them in the Metropolitan Division, starting with the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday night.
📊 STANDINGS:
📰 NEWS: A surprise before the game as we learned 2019 first-round pick (23rd overall) Simon Holmstrom was recalled this afternoon from Bridgeport to make his NHL debut. Kyle Palmieri, who collided awkwardly with Toronto’s Morgan Reilly on Monday night, was out with an upper-body injury after participating in the morning skate. Palmieri had left the session early, but the media was told Palmieri was ‘fine’ and it was related to an equipment issue. 🤷♂️
🏒 TAKE A LAP: As is a tradition in the NHL, when a player makes their debut, they take a lap alone at the start of warmups. On Wednesday, it was Holmstrom, wearing No. 10, becoming the 523rd player to appear in a regular season game for the New York Islanders franchise. Holmstrom, born May 24, 2001 (exactly 21 years after Isles won the Cup), is the first Islander born in the 21st Century.
◾️GREAT TO SEE: “It's awesome. He’s been around a long time. He's just a great kid. He’s always got a smile on his face and [is always] working his tail off, said Cal Clutterbuck after the game. “And it's great to see him get a chance out there. Hopefully, many more to come.”
◾️BIG SURPRISE: "It was just a very big surprise, and I was just very happy and excited to get here and to play," said Holmstrom after the game. In 15 games with the Bridgeport Islanders this season, playing primarily with Aatu Räty and William Dufour, Holmstrom had three goals and two assists. In his NHL debut, Holmstrom played 11:11 minutes and was on the ice for the Sebastian Aho goal that made it 3-0.
🦃 THANKFUL: If you go back to the 2005-06 season, 76.3 percent of the teams that were in a playoff position on American Thanksgiving made the playoffs, according to NHL Stats. Remarkably, that 77% number during the salary cap era has stayed true in both the four-division and six-division formats.
Last year, 7 of the 8 Eastern Conference teams that were in a playoff spot at American Thanksgiving last season went on to clinch a postseason berth. The Bruins, who were 2 points out on Nov. 25, 2021, replaced the Blue Jackets.
After Wednesday’s win and Carolina’s loss to Arizona, the Islanders reached Thanksgiving with 26 points, the second-most in the Metropolitan Division and six points behind the first-place New Jersey Devils, who saw their 13-game winning streak come to an end in a 2-1 loss at home to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
📚 SOUND SMART: Per NHL PR, Jean-Gabriel Pageau recorded the seventh instance in Islanders history of a player scoring a shorthanded and power-play goal in a five-minute span (regular season or playoffs.
He joined Zach Parise on April 12, 2022, Pierre Turgeon on April 8, 1994, Brent Sutter on March 31, 1990, Patrick Flatley on Dec 23, 1987, Bob Bourne on March 13, 1984, and Denis Potvin on April 11, 1974
🗓 THIS DATE IN ISLANDERS HISTORY: On November 24, 1985, the Islanders defeated the New York Rangers 4-3 in overtime at Madison Square Garden. Islander goalie Billy Smith made three overtime saves before Rangers defenseman Steve Richmond put the puck on Greg Gilbert's stick. The Islander left-wing swooped in on goalie Ron Scott, who was making only his second start this season, to drop the Rangers' overtime record to 0-6-1.
“We've been so psyched out by those third periods and how bad we've been playing,' said Pat LaFontaine, who, with the Islanders' third goal, brought his consecutive-game scoring streak to six. 'It's become completely a psychological problem. We never stopped working, and Billy kept us in there.”
🔗 Why is it so important to secure a spot at the Thanksgiving playoff table? via Eyes on Isles “There is no guarantee that the New York Islanders will return to the playoffs because they're in that position on Thanksgiving, but league history suggests that it is a very strong indicator as to which teams will be in the post-season.”
🔗 NY Islanders Prospect Report: Week of 11/14-11/20 by Michael Stahurski, Eyes on Isles “As Quinn Finley continues to rack up points in the USHL, USA Hockey has recognized the future Wisconsin Badger as one of the top Junior A players and has named him to the USA World Junior A Challenge team.”
And we leave you with this …. the wedding proposal on opening night (was it real?!?!) didn’t end well, but last night it was the first gender reveal at UBS Arena. Orange for a girl, blue for a boy. This went much better. Congrats to the couple on the big news!
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