EDMONTON - Ilya Sorokin and his posts proved to be more than up to the challenge on Thursday night.
The 30-year-old Russian goalie recorded a 35-save shutout as his New York Islanders got past the Edmonton Oilers 1-0, despite being almost doubled in shots on the night.
鈥淚lya was outstanding, he made some great saves for us and our power play came through with a big one for us,鈥 said Islanders head coach Patrick Roy. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 a big win for us.鈥
It was Sorokin鈥檚 league-leading fifth shutout of the season and 27th of his career.
鈥淲e were fighting every minute and we had a chance on the power play and we scored and luck was on our side tonight,鈥 Sorokin said. 鈥淭hey hit two posts, in the last minute and the PK before. It鈥檚 a big win against a big team.鈥
Sorokin did get a bit of help on the night in the third period as Edmonton had a couple of glorious chances clang off of the iron.
It briefly looked like Edmonton had broken the scoreless deadlock on the power play 32 seconds into the third, but an Evan Bouchard shot actually went off the crossbar and then the post before settling under a seemingly unaware Sorokin.
Then, with 35 seconds remaining and their own goalie pulled, Leon Draisaitl rang a one-timer off the far post that would have tied the game.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 see nothing, I just heard the post sound and I thought it was a goal,鈥 Sorokin chuckled. 鈥淚t started to get loud in the rink and then I saw the puck in the corner and I thought 鈥楾hank God.鈥欌
It was the Islanders鈥 first shutout in Edmonton since Game 1 of the 1983 Stanley Cup Final when Billy Smith also made 35 saves.
鈥淭here are not enough words to describe how good that guy is day in and day out for us,鈥 Islanders forward Matthew Barzal said of Sorokin. 鈥淗is commitment to being a pro is his entire life.聽
"On the road, you find him in the gym when we get into a new city or on off-days he鈥檚 stretching and working out, that鈥檚 just who he is, he鈥檚 just ready to play all the time and is really the best in the world.鈥
Edmonton鈥檚 Connor Ingram recorded 17 saves in the goaltending duel.
鈥淲e had our chances, for sure,鈥 said Oilers defenceman Jake Walman. 鈥淲hen we broke them down, their goalie was there to bail them out. I thought the goaltending all game from (Ingram) and their guy was top-notch. It鈥檚 tough to score when the goalies are playing like that.
鈥淲e had our looks, we had good looks. We had over 30 shots. For the most part of that game, we got to our game, but sometimes that happens, you run into a hot goalie. It was a goaltending game tonight.鈥
Anthony Duclair scored for the Islanders (26-16-5), who have won four of their last six.
The Islanders finally broke the scoreless deadlock on their lone power play of the game with 6:18 remaining in the third frame on just their second shot of the period as Calum Ritchie sent a backhand pass to Duclair from the side of the net and he rifled home his ninth of the season.
Playing in his 576th game, Barzal picked up an assist on the play to hit 500 points in his career. New York鈥檚 leading scorer now has eight points in his last six games.
鈥淎 lot of credit to my teammates, I鈥檓 more so a passer my entire career, so a lot of credit to my teammates for putting the puck in the back of the net,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t takes a lot of people including my family and everybody to get to a milestone like that. It鈥檚 cool.鈥
It was a rare win in Edmonton for the Islanders who had lost the last six trips to town dating back to Mar. 7, 2017. Edmonton came into the game with a 12-1-0 record (41 goals, 23 goals against) at home against them since the 2007-08 season.
Of note from Edmonton鈥檚 perspective, Connor McDavid鈥檚 point streak, the longest in the NHL this season, ended at a career-best 20 games, during which he recorded 19 goals and 27 assists. He joined Wayne Gretzky and Paul Coffey as the only three players in Oilers franchise history to put together a point streak of at least 20 games.
This report by 好色tvwas first published Jan. 16, 2026.
