Ilya Sorokin delivered a vintage performance, stopping all 35 shots he faced to record his NHL-leading fifth shutout of the season as the New York Islanders edged the Edmonton Oilers 1-0 on Thursday night at Rogers Place. Sorokin was sharp from the opening faceoff, tracking pucks cleanly through traffic and calmly handling Edmonton's relentless pressure. When he wasn't the difference, the goalposts helped - ringing twice on Oilers chances in a scoreless game that felt like it was waiting for one mistake to decide it.
And the thing about that is, if you have ever been hit on the top of your skate before, you know how much that hurts. Like Barzal knew exactly what he was doing... "He knew it was going to hurt him. He knew it was going to be painful, and he wanted it to be painful."
Roy said Barzal was late to the rink in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Thursday morning. Roy said the center will be back in the lineup for Friday night's game at the Washington Capitals. "That's the culture of our team. We made the decision to not play him tonight," Roy said before the loss. "Barzy doesn't feel good about it, but you respect the decision. He understands it. He was really good about it."
"I think it's just a mindset of knowing I'm going to be in more battles down low in my own end," Barzal said. "You've got to get lower in your zone instead of being a winger up high. But honestly, not much changes. Whether I'm on the wing or down the middle, I usually find myself in the middle of the ice. So it shouldn't be too much of an adjustment."
"Just to be able to come back from an injury like I did, that in itself has proven to me how mentally strong I am," Barzal told Ethan Sears of the New York Post before the Islanders' preseason matchup with the Rangers at UBS Arena. "When it happened, when the injury happened, the boys were so gracious with me, just so there for me at all times. It's also a reason why I was able to rehab so well, 'cause I felt so much support for the boys."
