![\"Tampa](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/shoots-new-york-islanders-goaltender-116895494.jpg\")
Ilya Sorokin makes a save during the Islanders\u2019 2-0 road win over the Lightning on Dec. 6, 2025 in Tampa. AP<\/p>\nTAMPA, Fla. \u2014 For the second time in less than a week, the Islanders didn\u2019t play particularly well against the Lightning.<\/p>\n
And for the second time in less than a week, the Islanders beat the Lightning anyway.<\/p>\n
Another superlative outing from Ilya Sorokin carried the Islanders to a 2-0 win over Tampa at Benchmark International Arena, giving Mathieu Darche the victory over his old employer in his first game back in Florida and gave Sorokin a 25th career shutout to tie Chico Resch\u2019s franchise record.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not my achievement,\u201d Sorokin said. \u201cIt\u2019s guys help me a lot. Without them, I do nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ilya Sorokin makes a save during the Islanders\u2019 2-0 road win over the Lightning on Dec. 6, 2025 in Tampa. AP<\/p>\n
On Saturday, though, it was the Islanders who would have done nothing without Sorokin. All game long, he was imperious in net and stood up to pressure, making 32 stops as Tampa held an 18-9 edge in high-danger chances.<\/p>\n
In the final minutes, with Tampa skating six-on-five and buzzing around the crease, Sorokin made four consecutive stops with the game on the line before Casey Cizikas\u2019 empty-netter sealed it.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know what I love? He looks pretty easy, and that\u2019s great goaltending,\u201d coach Patrick Roy said. \u201cNights where I remember myself, if everything looked easy, I knew I was on a good game. I thought that\u2019s what Ilya was.\u201d<\/p>\n
So good was Sorokin that Cal Ritchie\u2019s game-winning between-the-legs goal was relegated to a secondary item.<\/p>\n
Sorokin is playing as well as he has in the past two years right now. <\/p>\n
Aside from his puck-handling \u2014 which produced another scary moment in the first period when he mishit an attempt to rim it around the boards \u2014 there\u2019s no part of his game that looks vulnerable.<\/p>\n
Since the Islanders elevated Sergei Naumovs to the role of goaltending coach six games into the season with Sorokin struggling, his game has done a complete 180.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery time I look at them, it reminds me of the relationship I had with Francois Allaire when I was in Montreal,\u201d Roy said. \u201cI think it means a lot for a goalie to have a connection with a goalie coach. That\u2019s exactly what\u2019s going on for him right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"New](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/64-new-york-islanders-celebrates-116899221.jpg\")
The Islanders celebrate a goal during their shutout road win over the Lightning. NHLI via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Scott Mayfield and Anthony Duclair both drew iron during the second period, but the Islanders had largely been dominated when they finally got their chance when Brandon Hagel took a double-minor high-sticking penalty at 10:14.<\/p>\n
Ritchie converted 2:31 into the four-minute power play and 12:45 into the third, taking a rebound off the end boards and scoring through his legs at the left post. A highlight-reel goal, on a night with exceedingly few offensive highlights.<\/p>\n
Ritchie talked earlier this week about how he is playing with more confidence and less fear of making mistakes. And here it was, handing the Islanders two of the hardest-won points they\u2019ve earned all season.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not that I wasn\u2019t trying to play with skill and stuff,\u201d the 21-year-old rookie said after this one. \u201cIt\u2019s when you\u2019re feeling more confident, the puck starts to follow you. I think that\u2019s what\u2019s happening now. It\u2019s starting to click.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is clicking, too, for the Islanders, who are finding ways to win, even on nights where they are not the better team, even against some of the best teams in the league. Their current winning streak has come with two victories over the Lightning and a third against the Avalanche.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s a statement,\u201d Ritchie said. \u201cI think we\u2019re up there with any of the top teams in the league. We show it when we play the top teams. We\u2019re right in it with them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOn the ice from Long Island\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Islanders by Ethan Sears, a weekly Sports+ exclusive.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
They are in it in the standings, too, third not only in the Metropolitan Division but in the entire Eastern Conference after Saturday.<\/p>\n
And, as a personal point of pride for Darche, the Islanders are a point ahead of the Lightning as well.<\/p>\n
Not so bad for a rookie general manager. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 For the second time in less than a week, the Islanders didn\u2019t play particularly well…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63155,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7124,9,11,6821,10,539,319,22230],"class_list":{"0":"post-63154","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-ilya-sorokin","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-headlines","11":"tag-new-york-islanders","12":"tag-new-york-news","13":"tag-nhl","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-tampa-bay-lightning"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}