3 Takeaways: Islanders Claim First Win of Season in Chicago

Put it in the win column.
The New York Islanders notched their first win of the season as they spoiled the Chicago Blackhawks' home opener with a 4-1 victory on Tuesday night at United Center.

Oliver Wahlstrom led the way with a superb two-goal effort, while Anthony Beauvillier and Cal Clutterbuck each scored their first goals of the season.
Ilya Sorokin made 39 saves on 40 shots in his first win of the season. On the flipside, Marc-Andre Fleury made 25 saves on 29 shots for Chicago. Chicago forward MacKenzie Entwistle spoiled Sorokin's shutout, as he scored in the final 26 seconds of play.
To no surprise, the Blackhawks came out of the gate with some jump as they were cheered on by an electric crowd packed to the rim for their home opener. The Islanders they weathered Chicago's turbulent push from the get-go as Sorokin was tasked with an 18-save first period. Fortunately, the Islanders entered the first intermission unscathed - keeping intact a 0-0 score - and were able to capitalize in the second period and eventually, run off with the game in the third period.
"We had some urgency, we were sitting here with no points and we're still on the road for the next month roughly," Islanders Head Coach Barry Trotz said. "We knew we had to get something going here. We haven't had a lot of success in this building, with this group. It was important. It was important for Ilya. It was important for our team to get a little bit of confidence back in."
Read Cory Wright's Rapid Recap here.

WAHLSTROM AWAKES THE OFFENSE

Wahlstrom brought the gust to the windy city as the winger executed a two-goal performance, scoring his second and third goals of the season. The winger was a consistent offensive threat for the Islanders as he rifled off a game-high eight shots (and game-high 13 shot attempts) one hit and finished the game with a game-best plus-three rating.
"When Wahlstrom gets open he can shoot it as good as any young player in the league," Trotz said. "But I thought, positionally, he was in a real good position. He made good decisions up the blue lines. Offensively, he was moving his feet. When [Wahlstrom] is having success, he is moving his feet. He's able to get open, create some loose pucks so he can get that shot off."

Just as the Islanders had entered the third period with a 1-0 goal lead, courtesy of Beauvillier's second-period tally, Wahlstrom made it 2-0 just 48 seconds into the period. As Zach Parise prompted a turnover in the Blackhawks zone, Wahlstrom gathered the loose puck and snapped his shot through Fleury's pads.
Buoyed by the 2-0 lead, the Islanders revved off the momentum and their offense reciprocated. Around eight minutes into the period, the Blackhawks hemmed in their own zone and faced the wrath of hard-hitting Islander hockey. A fight broke out as Martin answered the challenge from Chicago forward Jujhar Khaira.
As the fight wrapped up and both players were sent to the box to serve their fighting penalties, Wahlstrom snatched a pass slick cross-slot from Jean-Gabriel Pageau and beat Fleury with his lethal one-timer on a wide-open net. Wahlstrom's goal padded the Islanders' lead to 3-0 at 8:51.

The scoring stopped there for Wahlstrom but continued for the Islanders as Clutterbuck wired his signature wrist shot past Fleury on the fly at 11:06 to extend the Islanders' lead to 4-0.
"We [were] in a good spot, leading after two periods on the road," Pageau said. "You take that any day, so I think we just tried to stick together, kept doing the things that were working for us, staying above their top players and their speed. We came out together and that's why we got the win."
While Wahlstrom's offensive instincts were a factor in the Islanders' win, it was a well-rounded performance from the youngster and one that Trotz applauded for his overall game. Wahlstrom used his solid 6-foot-2, 201-pound frame to throw a hit that eventually set up Beauvillier's second-period goal.

SOROKIN SHINES IN FIRST WIN OF THE SEASON

Sorokin faced a big workload early on as the Islanders' netminder was tasked with a hefty 18-shot first period and two power plays for the Blackhawks. The Russian netminder came up with some pivotal and acrobatic saves to keep the score 0-0 heading into the first intermission. He notably stoned a two-on-one rush within the first two minutes and denied a point-blank chance for Chicago defenseman Seth Jones to finish off a backdoor feed from Patrick Kane with five minutes left in the frame.
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"He definitely bailed us out in that first period there," Wahlstrom said of his teammate. "He's a world-class goalie and is tough to score on in practice. It was really good for him to get that win. He played unbelievable."
To repay their goaltender the Islanders eventually came up with their first strike to make it a 1-0 game in the second period.
After getting a boost from a dominant penalty kill on the remaining 1:13 of Scott Mayfield's first-period cross-checking penalty, Beauvillier put the Islanders on the board at 4:08. Ahead of the goal, some jockeying took place behind the net and players on both sides struggled to gain control of the puck. Beauvillier slyly collected a rebound from behind the cage and off the lively end boards and slipped the puck past Fleury to give the Islanders a 1-0 lead.
Armed with an advantage, Sorokin continued to maintain his clean sheet which primed the Islanders for a strong final frame. Sorokin stoned Alex DeBrincat's shorthanded breakaway at the end of the period, which Pageau said gave the Islanders a boost.
Despite the Islanders' offense exploding in the third period, Sorokin was still sturdy in the final 20-minutes of play and shook off the Blackhawks' desperate attempts. He turned aside eight-of-nine shots in that span. Unfortunately, he was robbed of his shutout with 26 seconds left on the clock as an unmarked Entwistle, at the netfront, lobbed in a slick no-look feed from Chicago forward Kirby Dach. The play was reviewed for offsides and confirmed as a goal for the Blackhawks.
"I thought he was our best player in the first period till we sort of got our legs under us a little bit," Trotz said of Sorokin. "He made a huge save on that shorthanded breakaway, that was a game-changer. I really felt bad for him, we wanted him to get the shutout, he deserved the shutout, but we failed him in the last few seconds. But he played really solid, he made the saves he needed to make, made some that were timely, that shorthanded one [on DeBrincat's breakaway] was huge and it gave our bench, we came out the next period and were jumping."

LATE CHANGES TO THE LINEUP

The Islanders made some changes to the forward group in their lineup for Tuesday night's game. Matt Martin made his season debut after recovering from his offseason ankle surgery. The Islanders received a boost from having the physical presence of the tenacious winger. Martin skated alongside his usual linemates Casey Cizikas and Cal Clutterbuck. In his season debut, Martin was right on pace as he threw four hits, had one shot, totaled 11:22 of ice time and following a ruckus hit, dropped the gloves with Jujhar Khaira.
Following warmups and just ahead of puck drop, it was announced that Islanders captain Anders Lee would not be suiting up against Chicago due to a non-COVID related illness.
"About 4 o'clock we had to make a decision on him, he was not feeling well," Trotz said of Lee. "Probably something he ate. He's with us now, but he was honest with us and said. "I don't have a lot' and we had Kieffer ready to go, and I thought Kieffer stepped in and did a good job."
In his place, Kieffer Bellows made his season debut. The young winger skated alongside Mathew Barzal and Kyle Palmieri and also took some shifts alongside Brock Nelson and Josh Bailey. Bellows logged 12:59 time on ice, including 1:05 on the power play, threw a team-best five hits and had one shot.

NEXT GAME:

The Islanders continue their road swing as they travel to Ohio next to take on the Columbus Blue Jackets. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET at Nationwide Arena on Thursday night.