Ilya Sorokin records fifth shutout of season as Islanders beat Ducks

ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Islanders didn’t have top playmaker Mathew Barzal, and perhaps won’t for a while. But they had goalie Ilya Sorokin. And they got a focused performance across their lineup less than 24 hours after coach Barry Trotz said his players spent too much time guessing defensively in their previous game.

Sunday night’s 4-0 win over the Ducks at Honda Center in the penultimate game of their five-game road trip showcased the type of play the Islanders just have not gotten consistently enough this season. It stood in stark contrast with Saturday night’s 5-2 loss to the Kings.

"I don’t know if there was anger," Trotz said. "We just said, ‘Let’s just play the game.’ Sometimes we try to force things that aren’t there or try to be too fine. The leadership group, they get all the credit. We were missing some good people in [Zdeno] Chara and Barzal. Our strength is in the group, it’s not in individuals, and that was obvious today."

"It’s the next-man-up mentality," said Casey Cizikas, who made it 2-0 at 1:33 of the second period off the first of Ross Johnston’s two primary assists and added his own assist on his 31st birthday. "We want to compete as a team and I thought we did that tonight. We had all lines rolling. The defensemen were playing really well. When we had any breakdowns, Ilya was there to make a big save."

Sorokin, starting for the ninth time in 10 games, made 34 saves for his fifth shutout this season as the Islanders (20-21-8) finished with a 5-5-2 mark in February. They are 17 points behind the Capitals for the final wild-card spot, and merely playing .500 hockey will leave them out of the playoffs for the first time in Trotz’s four seasons as their coach.

Anthony Stolarz stopped 18 shots for the Ducks (25-21-9), who are in a 2-5-1 skid.

"We knew we could be better than we were last night," Trotz said. "I just liked our attitude. We just said, ‘You know what? Let’s just play some hockey here.’ It was a good response by everybody."

"A tough one last night, but this team moved past that quickly," said Kieffer Bellows, who pushed the Islanders’ lead to 4-0 with a breakaway goal at 15:06 of the third period. "That was a big win for us. Sorokin played really well."

Sunday marked the first game Barzal has missed because of injury since joining the Islanders on a full-time basis in 2017. He went to the ice screaming in pain after his left knee twisted awkwardly during contact with the Kings’ Phillip Danault along the left wall at 11:49 of the second period Saturday. Chara suffered an upper-body injury on Saturday and Trotz said both are day-to-day.

Sorokin was sharp early with six saves in the opening 5:14. That included sliding to his right to deny Max Comtois’ tip-in try at the far post at 1:52 of the first period. He kicked out his right pad to stop defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk from the slot at 16:19 of the second period.

Defenseman Noah Dobson, with his third goal in eight games and ninth of the season, made it 1-0 at 13:41 of the first period. His slap shot from the right point skipped off the ice and beat Stolarz to the short side.

"That was our key, to get off to a good start," Cizikas said. "Get the lead and just continue from there."

Defenseman Andy Greene’s second goal of the season, from the left, made it 3-0 at 11:43 of the third period.

By Andrew Gross

andrew.gross@newsday.comAGrossNewsday

Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.