Islanders Survive Against Dominant Bruins, Sorokin Steals Win 2-1

BOSTON — The New York Islanders (26-25-7) found a way to win a game in Boston, beating the Boston Bruins 2-1 (27-25-8) on Thursday night in TD Garden. Ilya Sorokin stole the show with some wizardry, robbing the Bruins after they dominated large swaths of the game.

After a first period totally and utterly dominated by the Bruins, Alexander Romanov scored a snipe off an odd-man rush late in the first period to swipe momentum from Boston. Boston had outshot the Islanders 16-2 prior to the Romanov strike.

After the goal, the shots leveled out for the next period and change, with the Islanders holding an 11-10 edge. Kyle Palmieri’s rebound tap-in deflated the Bruins’ balloon even more in the second period. Still, they funneled pucks toward Sorokin, who made acrobatic and positional saves alike.

Eventually, David Pastrnak broke through for the Bruins with just under 10 minutes to go. Really, it was just an Anthony DeAngelo own goal, and it turned the entire vibe of the game and third period.

Sorokin, the night’s unquestioned first star, made 36 saves in the win.

Jeremy Swayman kept out 18 pucks in defeat.

First Period:

The Islanders spent the entirety of practice yesterday emphasizing a strong focus and limiting turnovers. Patrick Roy spoke pregame and emphasized heavily how important a strong, fast start was. The Bruins outshot the Islanders 16-1 to open the game. The Islanders turned it over every shift. Officially, they only had nine turnovers. If you watched, you could triple that number.

DeAngelo and Adam Boqvist had terrible pinches, resulting in odd-man rushes. Johnny Beecher earned a breakaway, only for Boqvist to take him down with a slash. Boston pounded Sorokin with five shots on that first man-advantage, but he would not break. He played, for my money, his best period of the season. Sorokin fought through screens and single-handedly killed off both Boston power plays. The other came about after Romanov blatantly interfered with Pavel Zacha at the back door.

Funny thing about that second Boston man advantage. As it ended, Jean-Gabriel Pageau received a pass from Ryan Pulock. The pass sprung Pageau for a 2-on-1 with Romanov fresh out of the box from his interference penalty. Pageau slid it to Romanov’s tape, and he sniped Jeremy Swayman short-side, over the blocker, and into the top corner. 1-0 Islanders. The lead was held through the end of the period. Shots finished 16-6 for Boston.

Second Period:

After the sluggish first, the Islanders began to respond. Nikita Zadorov rang iron 20 seconds into the frame. Then, Romanov had one of the worst turnovers this scribe’s eyes have seen. He flung a telegraphed pass along the blue line. Pavel Zacha chuckled as he went for a wide-open breakaway.

However, the story remained Sorokin. He denied the breakaway. Less than a minute later, Adam Pelech sent a gorgeous stretch pass to Brock Nelson. Nelson steamed toward the net and had his bid denied by Swayman. However, Palmieri surged forward for the juicy rebound and slammed it home. 2-0 Islanders with the shots reading 20-8. The Bruins must have really pissed off the Hockey Gods before the game.

After that, it felt like the Bruins loosened their grip just a bit. The Islanders started to possess better and generated chances. Palmieri literally kicked a pass to Nelson’s tape on a zone entry. Nelson weaved in and fired two good shots, both of which Swayman denied. Beecher took a tripping penalty.

The Islanders’ power play generated some looks, but nothing came of it. After that, Boston generated more pressure. In one sequence, Sorokin lost his stick entirely but made multiple saves to keep the puck out of the net. At that point, it truly felt like the Bruins were destined not to score tonight.

Boston needed a goal after a third Islanders’ penalty late in the period on a Nelson interference that injured Matthew Poitras. The Bruins had 1:36 of man-advantage time before the period ended. Sorokin stoned Mason Lohrei. Then, Brad Marchand received a pass on another odd-man rush. Sorokin slid across and made another fantastic save. The horn sounded, leaving the Bruins wondering, “What have we got to do?” Shots read 26-13 Boston.

Third Period:

The Islanders came out for the third period with a very business-like approach and smoothly killed off the remainder of the Nelson penalty. They limited Boston to virtually nothing for the first six minutes of the third period, which included a mediocre New York man advantage.

Still, the Bruins outshot and out-chanced the Islanders. They found ways to take over the game but could not find a breakthrough. Sorokin stood tall. All until DeAngelo took matters into his own hands.

After Sorokin kept everything the Bruins threw at him out for 50 minutes, it took incidental sabotage from his own teammate. DeAngelo scored an own goal for the third time in his Islanders career. Pastrnak received credit for the goal after he threw it to the front. This broke up Sorokin’s shutout and turned the pressure on the Islanders into overdrive.

Boston immediately seized control. Pucks flew into New York’s zone. It took Sorokin and Simon Holmstrom combining to trip up Charlie Coyle to prevent him from equalizing about a minute later.

Then, the Islanders nearly grabbed a dagger. Casey Cizikas fed Hudson Fasching on the backdoor for what looked to be a tap-in. Instead, Swayman made the save of the game for Boston to keep them alive in the game. If anything, Fasching could’ve lifted it, but Swayman made an incredible effort to make the save.

From there, the Islanders tightened down the ship. With two minutes left, Holmstrom laid out to block a thundering Parker Wotherspoon shot. That summed up the finish to this one. The Islanders flailing, fighting tooth and nail to hang on.

It sure wasn’t pretty, but the Islanders found a way to win in Boston on Thursday night.