New York Islanders
Blues 1, Islanders 0 (OT): Sorokin Sparkles; Offense Sputters
The New York Islanders fell to the St. Louis Blues 1-0 in overtime on Thursday night in the Enterprise Center. Ilya Sorokin had a fantastic game, stopping 29/30 pucks before Jake Neighbours scored the game-winner off of a set play by the Blues.
Joel Hofer shut out the Islanders tonight, denying all 34 shots that came from the blue and orange. The OT winner came with an assist for him as well.
Hofer received a drop pass while all three Blues attackers moved through center ice. Anthony Duclair bit and got caught behind when Hofer sent a perfect pass to Phillip Broberg’s stick. Broberg carried in for the 3-on-1 and chipped the puck toward the front, where Neighbours poked it past Sorokin for the winner.
It’s the second time in just four games that the Islanders have been shut out.
Missed Opportunity:
Make no mistake, this was a game the Islanders could’ve and should’ve won. Sorokin pitched a shutout for the first 60 minutes. That alone should get you two points 9 times out of 10.
The Islanders will rue some of their missed chances from tonight, including opportunities that saw Brock Nelson be denied off a rush and Maxim Tsyplakov firing wide from the slot on a second-period powerplay.
Bo Horvat had multiple good-looking opportunities throughout the game, none of which resulted in a goal.
In the third period, Tsyplakov poked a rebound toward the net, but the toe of Hofer denied him in tight. Kyle Palmieri then failed to bury it after it trickled free to him.
Similarly, Duclair had an opportunity with under two minutes to play, but it wouldn’t go for the Islanders tonight.
Tonight, as a whole, was a missed opportunity. The Islanders easily could’ve scored just one goal and made it last with how dialed in Sorokin looked. Yes, the Islanders got a point, and while that’s important, it’s equally important to capitalize on opportunities to get wins early and often. This is a team that’s preached not wanting to chase the playoffs until game 82 anymore, but games like this can set themselves up for just that.
Power Play Woes:
The Power Play continued their anemic start to the season. That power play is now just 1/10 on the year.
The power play looked as bad as it has in a long time tonight. The team failed to set up on either opportunity and constantly turned pucks over at the blue line. That’s one area that has to get better and fast.
The Islanders cannot afford another bad power play. It has not been good enough through four games.