Sorokin shut them out at Tampa Bay<\/a>, the Islanders\u2019 star netminder carried his team to a third win over the Lightning in as many tries Saturday.\u00a0<\/p>\nThe Islanders were outplayed, outgunned and outmanned without Bo Horvat, who remained day-to-day with a lower-body injury. <\/p>\n
But thanks to Sorokin\u2019s 32 saves, they took a 3-2 victory on Emil Heineman\u2019s shootout winner and a sweep of the season series against the Lightning for the first time since 2013.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Combined with Pat LaFontaine\u2019s emotional induction into the Islanders\u2019 Hall of Fame, it made for a perfect afternoon for the organization.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At least for a few hours, the Islanders were even atop the Eastern Conference, passing the Capitals and Hurricanes before both played later in the evening.\u00a0<\/p>\n
New York Islanders left wing Emil Heineman (51) celebrates with his teammates after he scores the game winning goal during shoot out at UBS Arena, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, in Elmont, NY. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just shows us that what we\u2019re doing, we\u2019re doing the right thing,\u201d coach Patrick Roy said. \u201cBy having that joy, having that compassion, having that boldness, it\u2019s exactly what this team needs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd seeing our guys, the way they\u2019ve been playing and what they\u2019re doing, I\u2019m so proud of them. They deserve so much credit for what they\u2019ve been doing. It\u2019s exciting for our franchise.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Heading into the third, the Islanders were hanging on tight to a 2-1 lead, having been outshot 17-1 in the second period with Darren Raddysh\u2019s power-play one-timer the only one to connect for the Lightning.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Just 3:20 into the third, though, J.J. Moser connected from the left circle to tie the game at two, finally beating Sorokin with a shot that found the roof of the net.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That did nothing to change the flow of a game that was all Lightning from the early goings. At a certain point in the third, it looked like if the Islanders could get a point from getting the game to overtime, it would be more than they deserved.\u00a0<\/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
Not only did they get one after Raddysh\u2019s attempt with about 20 seconds to go hit the post, they got a second, thanks again to Sorokin. The goaltender extended the game into a shootout with a 2-on-1 stop on Jake Guentzel in overtime, then bested Jonas Johansson in the skills competition.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s unbelievable,\u201d Cal Ritchie said. \u201cHe kept us in the game. Every single time he\u2019s in the net, same with [David Rittich], we have a chance to win. It\u2019s one of those nights where we found a way to win.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
LaFontaine was happy to point out the connection between himself and superstar rookie Matthew Schaefer, who shares the same agency, Newport Sports, which represented him as a player.\u00a0<\/p>\n
New York Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin (30) makes a save during the second period at UBS Arena, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, in Elmont, NY. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST<\/p>\n
\u201cHe just turned 18 and I don\u2019t want to say that, but the word generational talent starts to [come up],\u201d LaFontaine said during a mid-game availability. \u201cWe thought he was gonna be really good. He\u2019s special. He\u2019s a special player.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been texting him a little bit here and there,\u201d Schaefer said. \u201cHe was obviously a great player, great person. \u2026 Good to put a face to a name and he\u2019s an amazing guy. Such a great night for him. He deserves it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
That was after Schaefer had already gotten on the board 3:05 into the match, ripping a one-timer past Johansson at 4-on-3 on the Islanders\u2019 first shot of the game. Ritchie, the Islanders\u2019 other star rookie, scored just seven minutes after Schaefer, with Anthony Duclair feeding him on the rush for a 2-0 lead.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The problem for the Islanders was that was pretty much the only offense they got for most of the game.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know how much possession they had more than us, but I thought we defended well,\u201d Roy said. \u201cAnd there\u2019s nights you gotta defend well. You have to play well in your zone and I thought that\u2019s what the guys did.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
New York Islanders center Calum Ritchie (64) reacts after he scores a goal during the first period at UBS Arena, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, in Elmont, NY. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not a very sustainable way to win, and there were red flags all over the Islanders\u2019 game. The fourth line struggled, as did a reconstructed second line with Ritchie centering Duclair and Max Shabanov. There was no cycle game at all, and the breakouts were a grade below what the Islanders have come to expect.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sorokin, though, was every bit as good as the Islanders have come to expect. And some nights, that is enough.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Lightning will be very glad they don\u2019t have to face Ilya Sorokin again this season.\u00a0 Just a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":70172,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7124,16790,9,11,6821,10,539,319,22230],"class_list":{"0":"post-70171","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-matthew-schaefer","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-headlines","12":"tag-new-york-islanders","13":"tag-new-york-news","14":"tag-nhl","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-tampa-bay-lightning"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70171","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=70171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70171\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}