ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Islanders didn’t have top playmaker Mathew Barzal, and perhaps won’t for a while. But they had goalie Ilya Sorokin, and they got a focused performance across their lineup less than 24 hours after coach Barry Trotz said his players spent too much time guessing defensively in their previous game.
Sunday night’s 4-0 win over the Ducks at Honda Center in the penultimate game of their five-game road trip showcased the type of play the Islanders just have not gotten consistently enough this season. It stood in stark contrast with Saturday night’s 5-2 loss to the Kings.
Sorokin made 34 saves for his fifth shutout this season as the Islanders (20-21-8) finished with a 5-5-2 mark in February. They are 17 points behind the Capitals for the final wild-card spot, and merely playing .500 hockey will leave them out of the playoffs for the first time in Trotz’s four seasons as their coach.
Anthony Stolarz stopped 18 shots for the Ducks (25-21-9), who are in a 2-5-1 skid.
Sunday marked the first game Barzal has missed because of injury since joining the Islanders on a full-time basis in 2017.
Defenseman Zdeno Chara, who suffered an upper-body injury on Saturday just two days after setting an NHL record for defensemen by playing in his 1,652nd game, also was unavailable.
Trotz said both are day-to-day.
Brock Nelson was elevated to center the top line with Anders Lee and Anthony Beauvillier. Jean-Gabriel Pageau moved up to the second line between Zach Parise and Kyle Palmieri.
Trotz stressed that those two centers do not bear the total responsibility for trying to replace Barzal. "It falls on every other player on our team, not just those two," he said.
Barzal went to the ice screaming in pain after his left knee twisted awkwardly during contact with the Kings’ Phillip Danault along the left wall at 11:49 of the second period Saturday. He did not put any weight on his left skate as he left the ice but returned for one shift at 14:46. He fell again as he tried a quick stop and left the ice slowly to return to the Islanders’ room.
Barzal missed three games from Dec. 14-19 while in COVID-19 protocol and was a healthy scratch for one game last season. Other than that, he has played every game since his rookie season.
Sorokin, starting for the ninth time in 10 games, was sharp from the opening faceoff with six saves in the opening 5:14. That included having good anticipation to slide to his right to deny Max Comtois’ tip-in try at the far post at 1:52 of the first period.
He also kicked out his right pad to deny defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk from the slot at 16:19 of the second period with the teams skating four-on-four. He used his left pad to seal the post on Sam Steel’s wraparound attempt at 5:50 of the third period.
Defenseman Noah Dobson, with his third goal in eight games and ninth of the season, made it 1-0 at 13:41 of the first period with a slap shot from the right point that skipped off the ice and beat Stolarz to the short side.
Casey Cizikas, who turned 31 on Sunday, made it 2-0 at 1:53 of the second period, getting to the far post to tap in Ross Johnston’s no-look, pinpoint pass from the left wall. Johnston also set up defenseman Andy Greene’s second goal of the season, from the left, to make it 3-0 at 11:43 of the third period. Kieffer Bellows scored on a breakaway to push it to 4-0 at 15:06.
