Ilya Sorokin made 27 saves to lift the host New York Islanders to a 4-0 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday in Elmont, N.Y.
Sorokin turned aside all eight shots he faced in the third period to secure his NHL-leading sixth shutout of the season and 16th career.
Brock Nelson scored his team-leading 34th goal and Hudson Fasching and defensemen Scott Mayfield and Samuel Bolduc also tallied for the Islanders (41-30-9, 91 points), who remained in the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
Florida (42-31-7, 91 points) kept the top wild-card spot by virtue of the regulation wins tiebreaker (36-35) following its 4-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Saturday. Pittsburgh (40-30-10, 90 points) remained one point back of New York after posting a 5-1 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday.
Bo Horvat, Simon Holmstrom and defenseman Noah Dobson each notched two assists to send New York to its seventh straight home win over Philadelphia, with the last four coming at UBS Arena.
Philadelphia’s Carter Hart yielded three goals on 18 shots before being relieved by Felix Sandstrom (two saves). The free-falling Flyers (29-37-13, 71 points) have lost six in a row overall (0-5-1) and 10 straight on the road (0-9-1).
Mayfield’s wrist shot from the point beat Hart to open the scoring with 5:41 remaining in the first period. Mayfield’s goal was his sixth of the season and first since Jan. 12.
New York doubled the advantage at 7:50 of the second period after Dobson’s stretch pass caught Nelson in stride. Nelson skated in and wired a shot from the right circle past Hart for his second goal in as many games.
Bolduc wired a shot from the left circle that sailed past Hart to give New York a three-goal advantage with 4:54 remaining in the second period.
Fasching finished a rush to cap the scoring with 1:39 remaining in the third period.
–Field Level Media
