Good Morning, Islanders Country.
Islanders fans hadn’t seen goaltending like that in Edmonton since Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final in 1983. Truth be told, they hadn’t seen a win at Rogers Place at all since 2017. So when the night ended with the Oilers staring at a zero and the Islanders skating off with two points, it felt less like a regular-season result and more like a historical footnote being quietly rewritten.
Because it takes something — and someone — special to shut out Edmonton Oilers, to silence Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and the chaos they usually unleash at home. On this night, that someone was Ilya Sorokin, snapping right back into Vezina-frontrunner form with a breathtaking 35-save shutout.
Sorokin was nearly perfect in his fifth shutout of the season. And when even he was beaten, the iron came to his rescue — twice. A double doink in the opening minute of the third, iron again ringing in the final minute, and with that, everyone in the building understood the kind of night it would be.
Sorokin doing this isn’t new. It’s familiar, comforting, almost expected when the Islanders are at their best. What was new — and refreshing — was where and when his goal support came from.
The power play.
Yes, that power play.
Calum Ritchie, playing with more confidence by the game, slipped a no-look backward pass to Anthony Duclair, who ripped a one-timer that turned out to be all the offense the Islanders would need. In past seasons, that sentence wouldn’t have made sense. This year, it does.
For years, the Islanders talked about “cleaning things up” and “learning from losses.” This season, they actually do it — immediately. And when they’re not perfect, Sorokin is there to erase mistakes, silence stars, and remind everyone just how high his ceiling is, which is being the best goaltender in the NHL.
He stole the game, and against the best player in the world, he stole the show.
Game Recap
Ilya Sorokin made 35 saves for his NHL-leading fifth shutout of the season as the New York Islanders edged the Edmonton Oilers 1–0 on Thursday night.
The game’s lone goal came on the power play with 6:18 left in the third period, when Anthony Duclair buried a one-timer off a backhand feed from Calum Ritchie. Mathew Barzal also assisted, recording the 500th point of his NHL career in his 576th game.
Edmonton nearly tied it in the final minute, but Leon Draisaitl rang a shot off the post with just over 30 seconds remaining. The miss also ended Connor McDavid’s 20-game point streak.
Sorokin’s shutout was the 27th of his career, extending his franchise record, and the Islanders’ first shutout in Edmonton since Game 1 of the 1983 Stanley Cup Final. The Islanders snapped a six-game losing streak in Edmonton and improved to 4-2 in their last six games overall.
GameScore Impact Card
⏭ NEXT UP: The Islanders continue their road trip in Calgary on Saturday afternoon. Face-off versus the Flames is set for 3:00 PM EST
📊 STANDINGS
Data Download
Per a deep dive by Ethan Sears in the NY Post, HockeyViz data highlights a persistent issue for the Islanders at five-on-five: they give up far too much around their own netfront while generating comparatively little from prime scoring areas at the other end. Shots closest to the crease carry the highest expected-goals value, and that imbalance leaves the Islanders vulnerable against teams built to attack rebounds and traffic.
The Jets exploited that weakness Tuesday, consistently getting bodies to the crease and scoring through screens and second chances. It wasn’t isolated to one pairing or line — nearly every unit was on the ice for a goal against.
This has been a season-long trend and helps explain why the Islanders’ power play continues to struggle, even with elite skill on the ice. How damaging this flaw becomes will depend on how aggressively opponents choose to exploit it.
NHLer named AHL All-Star
Cole McWard continues to make the most of his opportunity in the American Hockey League, earning a selection to the 2026 AHL All-Star Classic while also pushing to stick with the New York Islanders.
The 24-year-old defenseman has been named an AHL All-Star after a strong season with the Bridgeport Islanders, where he leads team defensemen with 16 points (5 goals, 11 assists) in 29 games. His consistent two-way play and offensive production earned him a spot representing the Atlantic Division at the All-Star event in Rockford, Illinois.
At the same time, McWard has appeared in three NHL games since his call-up, rotating in and out of the lineup as the sixth defenseman. While his role has been limited, the experience reflects the organization’s growing trust in his game. McWard’s All-Star selection highlights his development and reinforces why he remains firmly on the Islanders’ radar as a potential long-term blue-line option.
Speed Kills
With the Islanders facing off against Connor McDavid, one of, if not the fastest player in the NHL, Andrew Gross did a deep dive into the Islanders’ skating stats and found that, while predictably Matthew Schaefer and Mathew Barzal most frequently break 20 mph+, other numbers from their teammates stand out.
📚 SOUND SMART: Per Eric Hornick in The Skinny, Thursday was the second time Ilya Sorokin shut out the Oilers, blanking them on 49 saves on Thanksgiving Eve 2022 at UBS Arena. Sorokin now has four shutouts by a 1-0 score (April 18, 2021, at Philadelphia; October 17, 2023, vs Arizona; April 13, 2025, at New Jersey. Anthony Duclair’s power-play goal was the Islanders’ 12th go-ahead goal in the third period this season, which is tied for the NHL lead with three other teams.
🎥 ISLES REWIND: On Jan. 16, 2015, with his Bryan Trottier in attendance, Kyle Okposo scored three of his career-high four goals in a four-goal third period as the Islanders rallied to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-3 at Nassau Coliseum.
“When I came into the league, my first rookie camp (Trottier) was there,” Okposo said. “I just kind of picked his brain. The way that he carried himself and still carries himself is something that I really look up to and try to emulate.”
📺 Islanders Postgame Availability
🔗 Islanders’ Jonathan Drouin trusting the process despite long scoring drought by Ethan Sears, New York Post “Drouin has never scored more than 21 goals in a season, and wasn’t signed for that reason, but however positive his attitude, 24 games is a long time for anyone to go without scoring. And though the Islanders haven’t gone as far as to take him out of the top six, let alone sit him for a game, Drouin also has just six assists in that time frame — and was dropped both from the top power play unit and the top six on Thursday.”
🔗 Islanders Schaefer poised to prove doubters wrong by Nestor Quixtan, Eyes on Isles “Despite Schaefer’s evident impact on the club, a recent ranking in The Athletic isn’t entirely convinced that Schaefer is an elite player. The ranking placed Schaefer at #4 in its list of top NHL players under 23. Now, the debate isn’t whether Schaefer should be #1 or not. The discussion here is that the piece refers to Schaefer as a “bubble elite NHL player.”
And we leave you with this…We Want Fishsticks author Nick Hirshon unsuccessfully begs “Hunter” The Lynx for a photo wearing his Mariusz Czerkawski jersey.
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mama mia what a game!! the isles pretty much shut down the top offences this year... mackinnon no points on the island and then mcdavid streak ended in edmonton. some puck luck on our side for sure with the double doink and the leon miss with the empty net in the final minute but i think we put in a good effort. i also think the refs missed like 3 or 4 calls on the soilers. to come out with a 1-0 win is really a great statement and showing... but we cant shit the bed against the flames tomorrow.. great game Isles, good work and hustle out there! keep it up guys, LGI!!!!!