DETROIT \u2014 The Islanders are real, and they are spectacular.<\/p>\n
That is the conclusion, and it is the only conclusion, after, in the seventh game of a seventh game road trip, the Islanders walked into Detroit on Thursday night and demolished a Red Wings team that started the day atop the Atlantic Division by a 5-0 score.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was their sixth win in seven on a trip that spanned four time zones and in which all seven teams they faced had serious playoff aspirations.<\/p>\n
Cal Ritchie (left) celebrates with Casey Cizikas after scoring a first-period goal during the Islanders\u2019 5-0 blowout road win over the Red Wings on Nov. 20, 2025. AP<\/p>\n
Since losing three straight to open the year, the Islanders are 12-4-2 for a points percentage of \u2014 get this \u2014 .777.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we feel swagger, confidence on this trip,\u201d Ilya Sorokin told The Post after a splendid 29-save shutout to move within one of Chico Resch\u2019s franchise record. \u201cTomorrow, new day. We should forget about this. Work with confidence and swagger and keep going.\u201d<\/p>\n
They are for real. They are a contender, if not for the Stanley Cup then certainly for the Metropolitan Division. They are far better, far sooner, than anybody expected.<\/p>\n
What played out Thursday night on the Little Caesars Arena ice, and in the six games preceding, is all the proof you need.<\/p>\n
Outside of their power play, where the progress has lagged behind that of other areas, the Islanders walked all over the Red Wings.<\/p>\n
The fourth line, which has found a new level since Max Shabanov\u2019s return to the lineup in Denver, keyed the Islanders as if Barry Trotz was still behind the bench. <\/p>\n
Shabanov sprung Cal Ritchie for a breakaway goal 6:48 into the game, then scored himself following an offensive zone faceoff that caught Detroit netminder John Gibson out.<\/p>\n
Max Shabanov celebrates with teammates after scoring the first of his two goals in the Islanders\u2019 blowout win over the Red Wings. NHLI via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Two-thirds of the fourth line \u2014 Shabanov and Casey Cizikas \u2014 helped create Mat Barzal\u2019s second-period goal, too, with an aggressive forecheck that deposited the puck perfectly for Barzal to rip it home from the slot.<\/p>\n
Bo Horvat\u2019s one-timer from the right circle that made it 4-0 was another where Gibson looked lost in his own crease, and the moment where the boos started for the home team at Little Caesars Arena.<\/p>\n
Shabanov, for good measure, added a fifth when he stickhandled through a cadre of Red Wings defenders and finished past Gibson on his backhand at 6:50 of the third to cap off a three-point night.<\/p>\n
\u201cCal skates really well,\u201d Cizikas told The Post. \u201cShabby, he handles the puck really well. He finds those small little plays that need to be made. They read off each other really well. It makes my job easy. I get in on the forecheck, try to create a good forecheck, let them go to work.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOn the ice from Long Island\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Islanders by Ethan Sears, a weekly Sports+ exclusive.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
The top nine was good, but this one was about the fourth line and it was about Sorokin. <\/p>\n
Led by their bottom trio, the Islanders forechecked, they worked on the boards and even with tired legs, they kept up with a Red Wings side that \u2014 at least on paper \u2014 is younger, faster and better-rested.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI just feel better and better every single game,\u201d Shabanov said through Alexander Romanov, who giddily acted as the interpreter despite a sling on his injured right arm. \u201cBrings more confidence every single game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mathew Barzal, who scored a goal later in the game, skates with the puck during the first period of the Islanders\u2019 blowout victory over the Red Wings. Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
Sorokin, operating with as much confidence in the crease as he\u2019s had in years, stoned Lucas Raymond and Nate Danielson on solo breakaways, then for good measure stopped Patrick Kane on a two-on-one in the third. <\/p>\n
So obvious is the netminder\u2019s state of mind that coach Patrick Roy said he could tell Thursday morning that Sorokin would have a great game.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe seems to be in a zone right now,\u201d Roy said. \u201cI love to see him play that way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adam Boqvist had no trouble at all filling in for the injured Romanov, who will go to the doctor when the team returns to New York before the team issues an official update on his status.<\/p>\n
When the Islanders return home after two long weeks on the road for a weekend back-to-back against the Blues and Kraken, they should do so to a full house.<\/p>\n
Attendance has been a recurring issue since the move to UBS and the obvious reason why has been that the team occupying it has never been as good as the building itself.<\/p>\n
Not anymore.\u00a0 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DETROIT \u2014 The Islanders are real, and they are spectacular. That is the conclusion, and it is the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":394032,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[2993,40881,169448,1301,293,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-394031","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-detroit-red-wings","9":"tag-ilya-sorokin","10":"tag-mathew-barzal","11":"tag-new-york-islanders","12":"tag-nhl","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115586272072742917","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=394031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394031\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/394032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=394031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=394031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=394031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}