This was exactly the offensive outburst the Islanders needed, at the exact time they needed it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Their madcap 5-4 win over the Golden Knights on Tuesday night at UBS, with Emil Heineman netting the shootout winner, had such a long list of storylines that by the end of it, Jean-Gabriel Pageau\u2019s return to the lineup was almost an afterthought.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Pageau\u2019s newly constructed line with Mat Barzal and Anders Lee was, in fact, the only one not to score for the Islanders, though that is no indictment of their efforts.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bo Horvat\u2019s two-goal performance constituted his best game in the last few weeks. It was also the night when Simon Holmstrom broke a goal drought that had gone on 17 games, and another night in which the fourth line contributed at a high level.\u00a0<\/p>\n
New York Islanders celebrate a win by New York Islanders left wing Emil Heineman (51) to end the game with a shootout when the New York Islanders played the Tuesday, December 9, 2025 at UBS Arena in Elmont, NY. Robert Sabo for NY Post<\/p>\n
Matthew Schaefer, after a tough weekend in Florida, was back looking like himself again, too \u2014 up ice on nearly every shift, dancing at the blue line, facilitating opportunities. He and Ryan Pulock played nearly 30 minutes of sterling hockey.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Islanders\u2019 resilience was there, too, and in droves after Pavel Dorofeyev tied the game late in regulation to send the game to the extra period.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was a team effort,\u201d coach Patrick Roy said, \u201cin every regard.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
In other words, this was not, as it has too often been lately, Ilya Sorokin against the world. Sorokin, instead, had to overcome a shaky first period in which his rebound control was off and after which the Isles trailed 2-0. He, and the team, rose to the occasion.\u00a0<\/p>\n
New York Islanders center Bo Horvat (14) scores during the first period when the New York Islanders played the Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025 at UBS Arena in Elmont, NY. Robert Sabo for NY Post<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we have the opportunity to beat any team,\u201d Horvat said. \u201cI think we\u2019ve got a group in here to do it every single night. Everybody\u2019s buying into what we\u2019re trying to do here. It\u2019s been a huge part of our success.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Islanders led 3-2 going into the third period, which was when the game flew straight off the rails.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ivan Barbashev tied it up for the Knights just 1:27 into the third, diving past Schaefer and chipping the puck past Sorokin.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Simon Holmstrom celebrates with teammates after scoring a second-period goal in the Islanders\u2019 win over the Golden Knights. Robert Sabo for New York Post<\/p>\n
After Dorofeyev hooked Anthony Duclair at 8:44 of the third, the Islanders buzzed around Carter Hart\u2019s crease until Horvat finally broke through with Barzal feeding him a one-timer at 10:15 of the period for his second goal of the night.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Knights got a lifeline with 2:21 to go, though, when Adam Pelech took a delay of game call. The Islanders had absorbed pressure since taking the lead, but it was now a matter of Sorokin and of the penalty kill.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sorokin had started the night shaky. Here, however, he was note-perfect, denying a series of chances at the crease to help kill off the penalty.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That, however, was for naught. Instead of tying it at five-on-four, the Knights did so at six-on-five, with Dorofeyev stuffing in Mitch Marner\u2019s rebound with 12 seconds to go.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Islanders\u2019 penalty kill came up big again in overtime after Kyle MacLean was called for a high stick with three seconds left in regulation. This time, they were not left hanging, as Sorokin bested Hart in the skills competition, stopping all four Vegas attempts before Heineman scored to end it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ilya Sorokin makes a save during the first period of the Islanders\u2019 win over the Golden Knights. Robert Sabo for New York Post<\/p>\n
\u201cYou just gotta stick with it,\u201d Pulock said. \u201cYou can\u2019t sit back. And obviously taking a penalty late, having to kill it in overtime. Whatever it takes is kinda the mindset.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Horvat, who had struggled to get going offensively over the weekend, got things started for the Islanders at four-on-four late in the first period, wiring a one-timer from Pulock to cut into a 2-0 Vegas lead.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Marc Gatcomb, recipient of another game in the lineup with Max Tsyplakov coming out instead for Pageau, made good on that decision at 3:56 of the second when he put in Casey Cizikas\u2019 acrobatic cross-crease feed to tie the game.\u00a0<\/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
Ten minutes later, Cal Ritchie threaded a feed through traffic to Holmstrom on the rush, and the Swede lasered in a wrist shot for the 3-2 lead \u2014 his first goal in 17 games and his first point in 14.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And that was only the simple part of the night.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cResiliency,\u201d Roy said, \u201cwas probably the No. 1 thing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This was exactly the offensive outburst the Islanders needed, at the exact time they needed it.\u00a0 Their madcap…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":437278,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[156530,40881,1301,293,13726,155302,62,67,132,68,3116],"class_list":{"0":"post-437277","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-bo-horvat","9":"tag-ilya-sorokin","10":"tag-new-york-islanders","11":"tag-nhl","12":"tag-ny-sports-minute","13":"tag-simon-holmstrom","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-us","18":"tag-vegas-golden-knights"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115693958215375511","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437277","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=437277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/437278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=437277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=437277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=437277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}