OTTAWA — For the second straight night Ilya Sorokin was a difference maker for the New York Islanders.
Sorokin made 29 saves in a 4-2 winning effort against the Ottawa Senators on Sunday night after making 28 saves the previous night in a 4-3 win over the Carolina Hurricanes.
In comparison, Ottawa’s Anton Forsberg faced 12 shots.
Both teams were playing the back half of back-to-backs.
Coming into the game the Islanders' (11-11-7) power play had been struggling going 2-for-24 through its last 10 games, but were a perfect 2-for-2 on this night.
With the game tied 2-2 Kyle Palmieri gave the Islanders the lead at 13:46 of the third with New York’s second power-play goal of the game.
Ottawa (12-13-2) pressed hard for the equalizer but Sorokin rose to the occasion and Bo Horvat added an empty-net goal to secure the win.
Adam Gaudette opened the scoring early in the first for his 13th of the season, setting a new career high.
Anders Lee came up with a big goal to tie the game. It marked the Islanders first road power-play goal since Nov. 14.
Palmieri picked up his 500th career point with an assist on the play.
New York scored 2:21 later to take the lead when Kyle MacLean redirected a Dennis Cholowski shot from in close.
Josh Norris tied the game with his third goal in three games. With the Senators on the power play Drake Batherson made a behind the back pass to Norris who wristed it past Sorokin.
TAKEAWAYS
Senators: The home team opened the scoring for the third straight game. Ottawa plays with more confidence when scoring first going 10-1-0.
Islanders: The Islanders scored two power-play goals in a game for the first time this season.
KEY MOMENT
With the game tied 2-2 the Islanders killed a Senators power play with Sorokin making a couple clutch saves.
KEY STAT
Coming into the game the Islanders hadn’t scored a power-play goal on the road since Nov. 14. They were 0-11 in their last five road games.
UP NEXT
Islanders: Host the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday.
Senators: Host the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 8, 2024.
Lisa Wallace, The Canadian Press