Bo Horvat opened and closed the scoring Thursday night for the New York Islanders, who never trailed in a 4-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks in Elmont, N.Y.
Emil Heineman and Anthony Duclair scored within a three-minute span in the second period for the Islanders, who have split their first four games. New York goalie Ilya Sorokin carried a shutout deep into the third period and finished with 22 saves.
Sorokin has allowed just one goal total in two home starts this season.
Frank Nazar spoiled Sorokin’s shutout bid with 3:34 left for the Blackhawks, who have dropped four of their first five games. Arvid Soderblom recorded 15 saves.
The Islanders opened the scoring on a power-play goal with 59 seconds left in the first period. Horvat won a faceoff with Ryan Greene in the Blackhawks’ zone and moved to the net, where he pounced on the rebound of Matthew Schaefer’s shot from the high slot.
A Blackhawks turnover led to Heineman’s goal 6:44 into the second. A clearing pass from Chicago’s Wyatt Kaiser clipped off the stick of teammate Oliver Moore and to New York’s Adam Pelech, who backhanded a pass up the ice to Matias Maccelli. The left winger shook Kaiser along the boards and dished to Heineman, whose shot sailed under Soderblom’s stick.
Duclair produced an impressive effort to extend the lead to 3-0 with 10:22 left in the middle frame. The left winger was wrapped up by Artyom Levshunov on a semi-breakaway but managed to retrieve the puck and pass into the crease. Jean-Gabriel Pageau picked up the puck and passed to Logan Stanley as Duclair raced to the right faceoff circle, where he took a feed from Stanley and beat a sprawling Soderblom.
The Blackhawks pulled Soderblom with a little under four minutes left in the third to set up the 6-on-5 sequence that resulted in Nazar’s goal from the slot.
Horvat capped his 41st career multi-goal game by scoring a nearly length-of-the-ice empty-netter with 93 seconds left.
–Field Level Media
