This one was a bit of a snoozer to start — not much action, save for Ilya Sorokin standing tall and the Islanders hitting the post a few times. We went into the third period tied at zero, a rarity for this sometimes defensively-challenged team, but a four minute power play helped the Isles break the deadlock, with an incredible goal from Cal Ritchie.
Sorokin was locked in all night, and earned his franchise-record tying 25th shutout, matching Chico Resch’s total. He was absolutely the best player for the Isles tonight, tracking the puck well and making key saves, keeping the team in the game all night despite Tampa putting 32 shots on him.
The first period was pretty uneventful, with Sorokin turning away all nine of the Lightning’s shots. Max Shabanov left for the locker room for a little bit, but returned to the bench and seemed fine the rest of the game, so it must have been something minor.
Sorokin took some contact early in the second, with a Lightning player driving the net and Mayfield falling backwards on top of Sorokin, but he was fine and continued his strong play for the rest of the game.
Marc Gatcomb had some solid chances on Jonas Johansson, but couldn’t convert. Casey Cizikas drew a tripping penalty, sending Victor Hedman to the box, but the Isles couldn’t convert.
Shortly after, Anders Lee took a high sticking penalty, but the Isles killed that.
Lee and Anthony Duclair hit the post on shorts that beat Johansson, and then Bo Horvat took a hooking penalty, which the Islanders killed.
In the third, Adam Pelech took a shot that produced a healthy rebound that just skipped past Shabanov, who would’ve had an empty net.
Pelech hit Curtis Douglas against the boards and while it was very clearly a routine hit, Douglas must have caught the boards strangely, because he struggled to get up after the hit and left the game.
Cizikas took a high stick to the face, and Brandon Hagel was called for a four minute double minor after some discussion. Kyle MacLean had a hand on Hagel’s stick, and appeared to influence its movement, but still, the onus is generally on the player to control his own stick.
Simon Holmstrom hit yet another post, but then the Islanders would finally break through, as Cal Ritchie scored a between-the-legs goal in tight, banking the puck off Johansson and into the net to make it 1-0.
With just under three minutes left, Tampa pulled Johansson for the extra skater, and spent nearly that entire time in the Isles’ end. Sorokin made some strong saves, and then Cizikas, for the second game in a row, scored into the empty net to seal the win, 2-0.
Next, the Islanders will stay in Florida, heading down to take on the Panthers as the dads and mentors trip continues.