Islanders earn shootout win over Golden Knights on Emil Heineman's goal
The Islanders' Emil Heineman scores a winning shootout goal against the Vegas Golden Knights at UBS Arena on Tuesday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The Islanders frequently rely on Ilya Sorokin to earn two points.
And their No. 1 goaltender was certainly a part of this victory. But there were key contributions across the lineup as the Islanders finally secured a 5-4 four-round shootout win over Vegas on Tuesday night at UBS Arena to open a three-game homestand.
Emil Heineman scored the shootout’s lone goal after the Islanders opened overtime killing off a high-sticking call on Kyle MacLean.
“I feel like it doesn’t matter who we’re playing, we’re confident,” defenseman Ryan Pulock said. “Structurally we’ve been doing a real good job of not giving up a whole lot of good chances, which you’ve got to do against these high-skilled teams.”
Pulock logged a season-high 29:12, including 4:55 on the Islanders’ crucial 4-for-4 penalty kill, and his defense partner, Matthew Schaefer, was on the ice for 28:14 with four shots and five attempts blocked.
Bo Horvat scored twice as he reached 19 goals. Casey Cizikas’ fourth line had another stellar performance, including his incredible feed to set up Marc Gatcomb’s goal. Simon Holmstrom scored for the first time in 18 games.
And, of course, Sorokin made 32 saves a day after being named the NHL’s first star of the week.
“I think it’s a very interesting game,” Sorokin said. “Fun. Very stressful, like always. We have two penalty kills in the last two minutes and in overtime. The guys did a really good job and the penalty kill blocked shots.”
The Islanders (17-11-3) swept the two-game season series from Vegas (14-6-9), which had a four-game winning streak snapped despite leading 2-0 in the first period on rebound goals from defenseman Noah Hanifin — with the teams skating four-on-four — and Mitch Marner at 16:01.
“Honestly, in the first period, we just weren’t getting the bounces,” said Horvat, whose four-on-four one-timer brought the Islanders within 2-1 with 25.6 seconds left in the first period before giving them a 4-3 lead with a power-play one-timer at 10:15 of the third period. “They had a couple of fortuitous bounces. We just didn’t deviate from our game plan.”
Pavel Dorofeyev forced overtime with a puck that deflected past Sorokin at 19:46 of the third period and Vegas skating six-on-five. The Islanders had kept Vegas from scoring on a six-on-four after defenseman Adam Pelech was called for delay of game at 17:39 and goalie Carter Hart pulled for an extra skater.
“Resiliency was probably the No. 1 thing,” coach Patrick Roy said. “Obviously, the penalty killing came up big. And, in those moments, Ilya made some phenomenal saves for us and kept us in it.”
The game marked the return of Jean-Gabriel Pageau — who scored shorthanded in overtime in the Islanders’ 4-3 win in Las Vegas on Nov. 13 — after an eight-game absence because of an upper-body injury. Roy opted to use Pageau on Mathew Barzal’s right wing with Anders Lee rather than in his usual spot centering the third line.
Vegas’ Hart made 23 saves in his third game since signing a two-year, $4 million deal and returning to the NHL for the first time since he played for the Flyers in 2023-24. Hart was one of five players on Canada’s 2018 IIHF World Junior Championship gold-medal team who was accused of committing sexual assault in June of that year and eventually found not guilty.
He could not stop Gatcomb’s redirection at the crease off Cizikas’ stop-and-spin feed to tie it 2-2 at 3:56 of the second period.
“What a play by Casey,” the righthanded Gatcomb said. “I could have scored that lefty probably. He put that thing on a platter. I was just in the right spot.”
Holmstrom’s wrister off the rush beat Hart low past his glove to give the Islanders a 3-2 lead at 13:30 of the second period. It was his first point in 15 games.
But Ivan Barbashev got behind Schaefer and swiped the puck past Sorokin to tie it 3-3 at 1:27 of the third period.
Notes & quotes: Lee played in his 872nd game for the Islanders, tying Clark Gillies for seventh on the franchise’s all-time list . . . Top-six right wing Jonathan Drouin (lower body) missed his fourth game and did not participate in the team’s morning skate . . . Defenseman Adam Boqvist remained a healthy scratch.
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.
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