The New York Islanders aim to extend their point streak to seven games on Tuesday night when they open a three-game road trip against the New Jersey Devils in Newark, N.J.
The Islanders saw their three-game winning streak come to a halt with a 1-0 shootout loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday night. The setback dropped New York to 3-0-3 in its last six games, which is its longest point streak under coach Lane Lambert.
“I thought the effort was outstanding,” Lambert said. “I’m proud of our team. We’ve played a lot of hockey lately, traveled a lot lately, including (Friday’s 5-3 win over the Ottawa Senators). The four defensemen that played last night played a ton of minutes. And I thought it wasn’t necessarily pretty at times. But I thought we gutted it out, and we battled, and I give our team full marks.”
Ilya Sorokin deserved full marks as well after turning aside all 40 shots he faced in regulation and overtime to record his second shutout of the season and 18th of his career.
The 28-year-old Russian fell to 6-3-1 in 10 career appearances against New Jersey after making 34 saves in a 5-4 overtime loss on Oct. 20 in New York.
Jack Hughes scored his second goal of that game at 2:19 of the extra session for the Devils. He also had two assists as New Jersey benefited from scoring four times on the power play to best its Metropolitan Division rival on that night.
Hughes had an assist Saturday for the Devils, who scored four times in the first period en route to a 7-2 romp over the Buffalo Sabres.
“When you score early, we scored a couple early and it takes the weight off your back,” said the Devils’ Tyler Toffoli, who tallied twice to join seven of his teammates with multi-point performances on Saturday.
“It was definitely nice to be on the other side tonight.”
It was especially nice since New Jersey posted its first win at home since Oct. 29.
“It almost kind of felt that we’ve been searching for (a game like tonight) all season long,” Toffoli said, “We’ve got to use this as a stepping stone moving forward and that’s the standard that needs to be played at every single night. Definitely one of the more fun games this season.”
Captain Nico Hischier admittedly had fun in his return from an 11-game absence due to an upper-body injury. He collected a goal and an assist.
“It feels good to be around the boys again and be out there and battle and come up with a win,” Hischier said. “The team was connected. It was a 60-minute effort and we were a dangerous team.”
Vitek Vanecek only faced 12 shots en route to halting a modest two-game skid.
The 27-year-old Czech is 5-3-0 with a 2.65 goals-against average and .912 save percentage in 10 career appearances against the Islanders.
–Field Level Media
