Islanders Edge Coyotes 1-0; Sorokin Earns First Shutout of Season

The New York Islanders won their second game in a row to start the season with a 1-0 victory over the Arizona Coyotes. Ilya Sorokin recorded his first shutout of the season with the win, while Mathew Barzal tallied his first goal of the season.

ELMONT, NY -- The New York Islanders won their second game in a row to start the season with a 1-0 victory over the Arizona Coyotes. Ilya Sorokin recorded his first shutout of the season with the win.

LINES:

Mathew Barzal-Bo Horvat-Simon Holmstrom

Pierre Engvall-Brock Nelson-Kyle Palmieri

Anders Lee-Jean-Gabriel Pageau-Hudson Fasching

Matt Martin-Casey Cizikas-Cal Clutterbuck

Adam Pelech-Noah Dobson

Alex Romanov-Ryan Pulock

Samuel Bolduc-Sebastian Aho

RECAP: 

It only took one goal for the Islanders to get the win tonight, and it came on the power play at the 3:47 mark of the second period. It was Mathew Barzal hammering home a one-timer upstairs on Karel Vejmelka. It was a quick play off the face-off won by Bo Horvat back to Noah Dobson before the pass was made to Barzal.

For the Islanders, it was their first power-play goal of the season. They were 1-for-3 on the night on the man advantage where Arizona was 0-3.

Ilya Sorokin stood tall in goal, capturing the shutout, the 17th of his career. Sorokin only had to make 14 saves but stood tall when he needed to be. The Coyotes only had 7 shots through two periods but added another 7 in the final frame.

The Islanders were the better team tonight, even with only one goal to show for it. The Isles had 31 shots in the game and lots of chances. On defense, the Islanders kept the Coyotes' chances to a minimum and forced them to the outside of their defensive zone.

Vejmelka played well between the pipes for the Coyotes, stopping the other 30 Islander shots.

It was a low-scoring affair tonight as the Barzal power play tally was the only goal needed for New York.

There was a lot of flow to the third period of this game, with both teams trading chances and offensive zone time. Centers were key for the Islanders in tonight's game, as the team won 66 percent of face-offs in the game.

UP NEXT: The Islanders move to 2-0-0 on the season and are back in action on Friday as they host the New Jersey Devils at 7:30 pm.