Takeaways: Islanders Shut Out Rangers 5-0

Night and day.

That’s how Bo Horvat described Saturday night’s 5-0 win over the New York Rangers, one day after Friday night’s loss to the Minnesota Wild.

The Isles turned the page quickly, with different lines, different swagger and most importantly a different result at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.

“It was a night and day difference from our last game,” said Horvat, who scored a pair of goals. “That’s how we have to play more often.”

Ilya Sorokin stopped all 33 shots he saw for his first shutout of the year and the 23^rd of his career – breaking a tie for second all-time with Billy Smith. Jonathan Drouin contributed three points (1G, 2A) in the victory, JG Pageau, who also had a three-point game (1G, 2A) scored an empty-netter to seal it and Anders Lee poured a little salt in the wound after the fact.

The win was the Islanders first at MSG in exactly three years and snapped a five-game winless stretch against the Blueshirts. The Islanders five goals on Saturday night equaled their entire offensive output against the Rangers from last season.

“It was important for us to come here and play with a lot of confidence in some swagger,” Head Coach Patrick Roy said.

TAKEAWAYS

- Horvat stayed red hot, extending his point streak to five games (5G, 2A). The Islanders center opened the scoring at 10:29 of the first period, making quick work of an Emil Heineman pass on a two-on-one rush. Horvat scored again to put the Isles up 3-0 in the second period, burying a power-play goal at 18:42.

Horvat now has 11 goals on the season, which lead the Islanders and tied the Islanders forward with Sidney Crosby and Anaheim’s Cutter Gauthier for third in the NHL.

It also marks the second-fastest Horvat has scored 11 goals in his career, as he netted 12 in 13 games to start the season with Vancouver in 2022-23. Horvat scored 0.62 goals per game in the 2022-23 season, but so far, Horvat’s averaging 0.73 goals per game this season.

- Drouin showed off his skill on Saturday night, both on his goal and his first assist. He was the beneficiary of a perfect saucer pass from Anthony Duclair, making a quick move to open up Igor Shesterkin’s five-hole and slip a backhander home to make it 2-0 in the final minute of the first.

The quick hands gave way to veteran patience on the Islanders power-play goal to make it 3-0. Drouin was face-to-face with Shesterkin about four feet from the Rangers netminder, too close to have a realistic scoring chance on his own. Instead, he touched the pass through a Rangers defenseman back to Horvat, who said he wasn’t expecting it, but sniped it high on Shesterkin quickly. Really heady play by Drouin there.

“What are you doing?” Horvat said was he was thinking when Drouin dropped the pass. “It was such a heads-up play by him because he’s so in tight all he could do was stuff. When he dumped it back to me I was kind of in shock, so I just tried to get it off as quick as possible.”

Drouin finished his night with an assist on Pageau’s empty-netter. His three-point game was his first of the season and his goal was his second – and first since opening night.

- Rangers games hadn’t been kind to Sorokin recent years, as the Isles netminder was 0-5-2 in his last seven games against the Islanders rivals. That was not the case on Saturday, as Sorokin was sharp from puck drop, turning aside all 33 shots he faced.

His night started with a point blank save on Artemi Panarin and included several one-timer stops on Mika Zibanejad, stopped 10 combined shots between the two forwards. He kept the Islanders afloat early when they were under siege from the Rangers and was good when they needed him down the stretch.

“I was just playing minute-by-minute,” Sorokin said. “I don’t think about result, but stay focused all game.”

Historically, his 23^rd shutout was a milestone one, as it moved him into sole possession of second on the Islanders’ all-time list, breaking a tie with Billy Smith.

In more recent history, Saturday marked the second time in three games Sorokin had allowed one or fewer goals, a marked improvement after allowing three-or-more goals in each of his first seven games this season.

- With the loss, the Rangers remained winless at home and were shut out for the fifth time in seven games on home ice this season.

- Max Tsyplakov drew into the lineup in place of Kyle MacLean on Saturday, playing his first game since Oct. 30. Tsyplakov finished the game with 10:33 TOI, with one shot attempt, one hit, one takeaway and two giveaways.

- Roy overhauled his lines on Saturday, notably switching all three defensive pairs.

Heineman-Horvat-Palmieri
Drouin-Barzal-Holmstrom
Lee-Pageau-Duclair
Tsyplakov-Cizikas-Ritchie

Schaefer-Pulock
Pelech-DeAngelo
Romanov-Mayfield

NEXT GAME:

The Islanders head to New Jersey on Monday for the second game of a seven-game road trip. Puck drop is at 7 p.m.