*Photo from Empire Sports Media*
New York Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin has been searching for his first win two starts into his rookie season. Entering his 3rd, he was still looking for it. He finally got it. Sorokin stopped all 20 shots that came his way, Anders Lee scored twice, and the Islanders shut out the Buffalo Sabres by a 3-0 score on Tuesday to give Sorokin his first NHL win.
Lee started the scoring at the 4:43 mark of the first period, depositing a great pass into the net to make it 1-0 Islanders early on. Jean-Gabriel Pageau lengthened the Islanders lead at 11:58 of the first, making it 2-0. It stayed that way until one second was left in the game, when Lee deposited an empty net goal to give the Islanders a 3-0 win.
Islanders coach Barry Trotz talked about Sorokin's first win, saying that "I think it will be a weight off his shoulders. As a goaltender, you want to get your first win and to get it with a shutout is huge, but we felt he played pretty well in Philadelphia and he was getting some momentum and street cred if you will. He followed it up today, which going forward will be huge."
Sorokin stopped all 20 shots that came his way as his record improved to 1-1-1 on the season, while the Islanders themselves possess a 8-4-3 record, good for second place in the East Division. The Islanders have shot up the standings thanks to a current 3 game winning streak and a 6 game point streak, jumping past the Philadelphia Flyers and Washington Capitals, only trailing the Boston Bruins in the standings.
Pageau, who scored his 6th goal of the season, said after the game that "I'm just trying to work as hard as I can to get my game better, to get a lot more skating in my game. I'm trying to be a pain in the ass to play against. That's what I'm trying to do. I got fortunate, I got a lucky bounce and I got another breakaway. I missed the breakaway and whatever. Got to keep working and hopefully, I'll get one."
The Sabres biggest problem was a lack of offense once again. They were shut out by Sorokin and the Islanders, and they only scored one goal in their last game, which was also a loss to the Islanders.
Sabres coach Ralph Krueger talked about the lack of offense from the Sabres recently, saying that "It's a bitter pill to swallow but, again, the job of us here and myself and leadership is to maintain rigid focus on the process, working on solutions for what's not happening here and that's our inability to score 5-on-5. It's not just individuals, it's us as a team that needs to find that success quickly."
The Sabres travel to Washington to face the Capitals on Thursday, where Linus Ullmark is expected to be the starter for the Sabres. The Islanders travel to Pittsburgh to face the Penguins, where Semyon Varlamov is expected to start.
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