Takeaways: Holmstrom, Sorokin Lead Isles to 4-3 OT Win Over Wild

The New York Islanders showed a lot of heart on Saturday night.

Down 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2, the Isles scratched and clawed their way to a 4-3 OT win over the Minnesota Wild at Grand Casino Arena, their first win in the State of Hockey since 2019.

Simon Holmstrom’s first-career OT winner capped a three-point night (2G, 1A) for the Swede, while Ilya Sorokin stopped 33-of-36 shots against the NHL’s third-best team. JG Pageau and Casey Cizikas (SHG) rounded out the scoring for the Islanders, while Ben Jones, Matt Boldy (PPG) and Kirill Kaprizov scored for the Wild. Filip Gustavsson stopped 24 of 27 in the loss.

With the win, the Islanders extended their point streak to four games (3-0-1) and improved to 5-0-0 in games decided in overtime.

TAKEAWAYS

The Islanders showed a lot of resilience on Saturday night, finding ways to overcome three separate deficits, as well as hold the line against a Wild team gunning for a wild west shootout.

“That stuff doesn’t really faze us,” said Tony DeAngelo, who had a pair of assists, said. “We just keep with the game and fortunately lately we’ve been able to tie these games each time we go down. The same thing happened against Toronto. So it’s good on our team, it just shows character.”

Minnesota’s top players lived up to their billing, with Quinn Hughes recording three assists and skating over 30 minutes, while Boldy and Kaprizov scored the Wild’s second and third goals. Those three players alone accounted for 21 of Minnesota’s 36 shots. It was far from an easy night for the Islanders in the defensive zone, but they kept pace when the Wild turned up the pressure.

“We were resilient,” Head Coach Patrick Roy said. “Expected goals against, probably not going to be good for us, but I like the way we played in the circumstance.”

Sorokin was spectacular on Saturday, especially in a third period that saw the Isles get outshot 17-8.

That will (rightfully) get a lot of attention, but the Isles goalie kept his team close early when the game could have gotten out of hand. After allowing Boldy’s 2-1 goal with three seconds left on a five-on-three in the first period, Sorokin turned Boldy aside on a backdoor look on a five-on-four chance to keep it a one-goal game. He also stopped a Kaprizov breakaway in the second period and a two-on-none rush for the Wild, sliding left-to-right to stop a Yakov Trenin try.

“He’s proven time and time again that he’s the best goalie in the league, by far,” Holmstrom said.

Now for Holmstrom, who accepted the team’s Iron Man mask from Sorokin. The winger was already having an impactful game before his OT winner – a terrific individual effort around Hughes that ended with backhand deke five-hole on Gustavsson.

He tied the score 2-2 for the Isles with a second period snipe from the high slot. Holmstrom also played a pivot role in Cizikas’ shorthanded goal to knot the game 3-3 in the final minute of the second period, intercepting a pass from Boldy and creating a two-on-one rush the other way.

“He was our best player tonight on both sides of the puck,” Pageau said.

He extended his goal streak to three games, which tied a career long set from March 16-20, 2025. His first goal of the night also doubled has his 100^th career point.

“He was again, outstanding,” Roy said. “Right now, he's playing with a lot of confidence when he when he uses body, protects that puck, and I was happy to see him scored on that OT play.”

Max Tsyplakov and Adam Boqvist drew back into the lineup on Saturday. Tsyplakov had one shot, four total attempts and took one penalty in 8:42 TOI. Boqvist had one block and one hit in 8:43 TOI.

NEXT GAME

The Islanders’ seven-game road trip continues in Winnipeg on Tuesday night. Puck drop is at 8 PM est.