Islanders: Three Takeaways from Thursday’s 5-3 Win over Devils

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Casey Cizikas #53 of the New York Islanders. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

The New York Islanders played a very solid 40 minutes on Thursday, and in the end came out with a 5-3 win over the visiting New Jersey Devils.

It wasn’t the most complete effort we’ve ever seen from the Barry Trotz Islanders, but in the end it was enough to extend their winning streak to seven and their point streak to tengames in front of a crowd of 1,000 Northwell Health front-line workers at Nassau Coliseum (subscription required).

Here are three takeaways from Thursday night’s action.

1. A Dominant Second Period from the Islanders

Some of you didn’t appreciate the way I talked about the Islanders performance in my last three takeaways, the one from Tuesday’s game against Boston. In fairness, I focused on a particularly negative aspect of Tuesday’s game, that of the performance against the Bruins’ top line, which wasn’t good.

So, let’s focus on some positives to start this one off, because I couldn’t say a bad thing about that second period if I wanted to, which I don’t.

The Islanders played the best period they’ve played all season in the second frame of Thursday’s win. Bar none. They absolutely imposed their will on the New Jersey Devils in every measurable way in the middle 20, and if it weren’t for Devils goalie Mackenzie Blackwood having a solid bounce-back period, the Islanders could’ve easily run away with the game then and there.

Looking exclusively at the team’s 5v5 performance right now, the Islanders drove play masterfully. They controlled nearly 65% of all shot attempts in the period, and over 75% of all unblocked attempts when adjusting for score and venue. Those numbers are impressive, but let’s add some context to them.

In total, the Islanders out-attempted New Jersey 24-16, the raw unblocked attempt differential was an even more lopsided 21-8. I mean, 50% of New Jersey’s total shot attempts were blocked.

That’s Barry Trotz hockey played the right way. Drive play into the O-zone as often as possible, and when the play is in your D-zone, clog up shooting lanes and keep the opposition’s shots to the outside. Mix that in with finding the dangerous areas of the ice in the Devils’ zone, and you get Thursday’s second period.

I mention finding the dangerous areas in the O-zone, because the Islanders carved New Jersey up there too. The unadjusted high-danger chance share was 12-1 Islanders. That number I find to be particularly ridiculous, and by that I mean it’s exceptionally ridiculous among a period filled with already ridiculous numbers.

For reference, the Devils managed five high-danger chances in all situations for the entire game. Just a ludicrous level of dominance from the Islanders in this period.

Anders Lee #27 of the New York Islanders (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

2. Anders Lee’s Early Exit

You never want to see a player get hurt, but when that player is your team captain in the midst of a resurgent season, that is doubly true. Anders Lee played 3:34 of Thursday’s game before getting tangled up with New Jersey’s Pavel Zacha, who was driving toward the Islander crease. He would leave the ice with a trainer’s help, without putting any weight down on his right leg.

The scary part about this injury in the moment was just how innocent the play looked in real-time. It was only after seeing the replay shortly after that I noticed how Zacha came down awkwardly on top of Lee’s leg.

Like I said, you never want to see any athlete get injured. These are people whose livelihoods are totally dependent on being able to perform physically at an elite level.

I’d be lying however if I said this one didn’t hurt a little extra. Lee is by all accounts one of the good guys of the NHL, and as Brendan Burke and Butch Goring noted on the MSG broadcast, he’s one of the toughest guys in the game too. It was hard to watch him crawl on the ice in the moments immediately following the injury.

This has to be frustrating for the captain, as he has had a resurgent 2020-21 after a couple of seasons spent trying to re-find his finishing touch. He was doing just that this season, as he led the Islanders with 12 goals on 9.44 ixG (Individual Expected Goals) in all situations.

For the Islanders, the loss of their captain and leading goal scorer for any significant period of time presents a new challenge. Lee’s game may be simple, but he executes it like a man born to play that role as a net-front presence.

Here’s to hoping Lee’s knee is okay, and he’s able to return to the ice soon.

Ilya Sorokin #30 of the New York Islanders. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

3. Ilya Sorokin Had a Third Period to Forget

Good or bad, eventually any NHL team is going to find ways to push back after a second period like the one New Jersey had. The Devils did just that on Thursday and found a way to seemingly make this a game in the third period.

Now, I should note that I didn’t think the Islanders’ third period was that bad, meaning not bad enough to surrender three goals in the frame.

There were some missteps, some poor defensive zone coverages, and the forecheck that looked so good in previous periods wasn’t as precise and effective. But generally speaking, the period wasn’t altogether a terrible one. The Islanders weren’t thoroughly outplayed by any means, and certainly didn’t play poorly enough to surrender three goals in the frame.

Ilya Sorokin really wasn’t very good at all in the third, and as a consequence, New Jersey ended up clawing back to within striking distance in the late going.

Yes, Jack Hughes’s goal to make it a 5-3 game was an excellent effort, and that goal can absolutely be forgiven. But the other two, not so much. The first one, scored by Devils winger Janne Kuokkanen, was really the product of a sloppy rebound left in the slot by Sorokin. That’s a problem we’ve seen persist all season in Sorokin’s game, and it burned him here again.

The second New Jersey goal came off a Mikhail Maltsev backhander from a sharp angle. Maltsev shot the puck from the opposite side of the face-off dot, and somehow it ended up in the net. How, I really don’t know. Just a seeing-eye shot, I suppose, but ultimately one that Sorokin should’ve definitely gobbled up easily.

This wasn’t a good start for Sorokin. I don’t think that’s really debatable. The Islanders played a dominant game in front of him and staked themselves to a four-goal lead after 40 minutes of play. As four-goal lead third periods go, the Islanders played back conservatively and allowed New Jersey more time and space with the puck, but the Islanders having a poor period isn’t the lead here.

Sorokin has been good for the Isles in most of his starts, and his numbers back that up. Before Semyon Varlamov’s great start vs. the Boston Bruins this week, Sorokin’s GSAx, or Goals Saved Above Expected, was actually higher than Varly’s.

But, context is important, and I don’t think GSAx, as important a metric as it is to measuring goalie performance, really tells the full story with Sorokin. He’s been good but certainly hasn’t been challenged in the same way Varlamov has in 2020-21, not even close.

We’ll likely get to see Sorokin again at some point this weekend, as the Islanders again play a Saturday-Sunday back-to-back, this time in Newark. Hopefully, his performance in that game rebounds, because like I and others have said all season, the talent and athleticism are there.

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