Islanders Bottle Up Draisaitl & McDavid, Sorokin Stops 49 in 3-0 Win

ELMONT–Backed by Ilya Sorokin’s brilliancy and Jean-Gabriel Pageau, the New York Islanders defeated the Edmonton Oilers by a score 3-0 on Wednesday night. Connor McDavid was held to three shots, with Leon Draisaitl recording two.

The Islanders are now 13-8-0, 7-3-0 on home ice.

LINES:

Simon Holmstrom-Mat Barzal-Oliver Wahlstrom
Anders Lee-Brock Nelson-Anthony Beauvillier
Zach Parise-Jean-Gabriel Pageau-Josh Bailey
Matt Martin-Casey Cizikas-Cal Clutterbuck

Adam Pelech-Ryan Pulock
Alexander Romanov-Scott Mayfield
Sebastian Aho-Noah Dobson

Ilya Sorokin
Semyon Varlamov

SCORING

Jean-Gabriel Pageau gave the New York Islanders a 1-0 lead at 4:33 of the second period. He finished off a strong feed from Zach Parise on a shorthanded rush. Parise and Pelech were credited with the assists on Pageau’s fourth of the season.

Pageau scored his second of the game, this time on the power play, as he tried to feed Anders Lee in front, but the puck deflected off of Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard and in for his fifth of the season.

Sebastian Aho gave the Islanders a 3-0 lead as Oliver Wahlstrom found him cutting in from the left side for his second of the season. Wahlstrom and Casey Cizikas were credited with the assists at 6:56 of the second period.

Pageau Comes Through Twice on Special Teams

Jean-Gabriel Pageau had himself a night on Wednesday, as he potted two goals to give the Islanders a 2-0 lead in the second. But it wasn’t just two goals. His first came on the penalty kill, while his second came on the power play.

Pageau becomes the 18th player in Islanders history to accomplish that feat.

Last season, on Apr. 12 against the Pittsburgh Penguins, Zach Parise accomplished that feat in a 5-4 win.

Sorokin Makes Highlight-Reel Save on Hyman, Dominant Performance

It’s redundant, but it was yet again an Ilya Sorokin show at UBS Arena. In the 3-0 win, Sorokin stopped 49 of 49. He denied 19 of 19 high-danger chances.

His best save came in the first period as he denied Oilers forward Zach Hyman after a strong backhand move. Sorokin read the play, pushed off his left skate, and stretched his right pad as far as it could go for the highlight-reel save.

Sorokin 👀 #Isles pic.twitter.com/5VbceXBqfO

— Rob Taub (@RTaub_) November 24, 2022

Sorokin also came up large on the penalty kill, as he helped deny all five Edmonton Oilers power-play chances. 15 of his 50 saves came shorthanded, with eight of them being high-danger.

Holmstrom Makes His NHL Debut Alongside Barzal

As the New York Islanders came out of the tunnel for warmups Wednesday night against the Edmonton Oilers, netminder Ilya Sorokin did not lead them. No, it wasn’t Semyon Varlamov, either. It was 21-year-old Simon Holmstrom.

As we see with rookies across the NHL, Holmstrom, wearing no. 10,  took his rookie lap and, during warmups, skated alongside Mathew Barzal and Oliver Wahlstrom on the Islanders’ top line.

We will have a shift-by-shift analysis of his performance for tomorrow morning.

In 15 games with the Bridgeport Islanders this season, Holmstrom recorded three goals and two assists. He skated primarily with Aatu Räty and William Dufour.

In his NHL debut, Holmstrom played 11:11 minutes and was on the ice for the Sebastian Aho goal.

Next up: The New York Islanders are in Columbus to face the Blue Jackets on Friday night at 7 PM ET.