NY Islanders edge Vegas for 5-4 shootout win in back and forth thriller at UBS Arena

The New York Islanders survived a chaotic finish and earned a 5–4 shootout win over the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday night, thanks to Emil Heineman, who buried the deciding goal in the fourth round of the shootout.

The Isles allowed the tying goal with just 14 seconds left in regulation, when Pavel Dorofeyev jammed in the equalizer for Vegas. Moments later, a high-sticking penalty on Kyle MacLean forced the Isles to kill a late Vegas power play, but Ilya Sorokin held firm.

“He’s been playing unreal,” defenseman Ryan Pulock said of Sorokin after the game. “Big saves when we need it. It gives our group some life, some juice, when he’s making saves like that. He’s locked in and gives us a lot of confidence.” Pulock earned his team-leading 15th assist in the game and was awarded the Iron Man mask by his teammates for the first time this season.

Sorokin was superb throughout, stopping 33 shots in regulation and overtime before denying all four Golden Knights attempts in the shootout. It was Sorokin's eighth straight win when facing 30 or more shots on goal. The Islanders had dug themselves out of an early 2–0 hole, scoring three straight goals from Marc Gatcomb, Simon Holmstrom, and Bo Horvat, whose second goal of the night put New York ahead 4–3 in the third period. Horvat’s pair led an offense that improved to 5–0 against Pacific Division teams. “It was a team effort in every regard,” Head Coach Patrick Roy said. “We were resilient, even down 2-0, what I love about our group is, we didn’t change anything.”

Vegas received goals from Ivan Barbashev, Mitch Marner, and Noah Hanifin, and goaltender Carter Hart made 23 saves but fell for the first time in three starts since rejoining the NHL.