After all the trade deadline talk subsided, the New York Islanders had a game to play and despite a slow start, they comfortably picked up two points Saturday against the San Jose Sharks, winning 4-2.
The Islanders came out of the gate anything but rolling as they spent nearly the first half of the period entirely in their own zone. Sorokin stopped 17 shots 10 minutes in while Georgiev had to stop only one. New York did kill a penalty that saw three shots.
Sorokin finally got a breather as the Sharks took an offensive zone penalty with just under 10 minutes to play in the first.
After some solid puck movement, Duclair’s shot hit off a body and found the back of the net for the opening goal. It was Duclair’s sixth goal of the year and it came on the Islanders second shot of the game, while being outshot by 15.
The Sharks took another penalty right after the faceoff following the goal and New York came close to cashing in. Bo Horvat was the recipient of a tic-tac-toe passing play but was robbed by the mitt of Georgiev.
The game finally settled in after the unconverted powerplay and while Sorokin had to make a few more tough saves, the Islanders started to spend a little more 5-on-5 time in the offensive zone.
With under a minute to go, Noah Dobson found J.G. Pageau who one-timed a blazing shot over the San Jose goaltender to give New York a two-goal lead.
The goal gave Pageau 12 goals on the year, besting last year’s total of 11 in 82 games.
The first period came to an end with the Islanders ahead by two. They were outshot 20-8.
It was a cleaner start for New York in the second, as they showed some offensive presence which included Anders Lee clanging one off the post.
Lee then took a penalty a few minutes later and it ended with the Sharks first goal.
After winning a faceoff, they cycled the puck low to high and defensemen Shakir Mukhamadullin found a clean shooting lane with a deflection by Nikolai Kovalenko to get it by Sorokin.
San Jose took the momentum from the goal and pushed once again, although not like last period, once again.
One of the Islanders’ few chances came off a rush, where Pageau slid it to Lee who…