Bo Horvat scored twice and Ilya Sorokin made 22 saves as the New York Islanders beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-1 at UBS Arena on Thursday night, a bounce-back win overshadowed by confirmation that defenseman Alexander Romanov will miss the rest of the regular season with a torn ACL.
Horvat opened the scoring with a power-play goal in the final minute of the first period, burying the rebound of a Matthew Schaefer slap shot from the point. Schaefer’s assist was the 62nd point of the teenager’s career, tying him for third in franchise history for points by an Islanders teenager. Emil Heineman doubled the lead 6:44 into the second period with a wrist shot, and Anthony Duclair made it 3-0 less than three minutes later, finishing alone near the back post from a Logan Stanley feed for his first goal of the season.
Frank Nazar spoiled Sorokin’s shutout bid with 2:32 remaining in the third period, scoring with the goaltender pulled, before Horvat completed the scoring into an empty net with 1:33 left. Stanley finished with two assists and logged 23:51 of ice time, while Sorokin’s shutout streak reached 165:31 of game action dating back to the season opener, the longest of his career, including a team-record 117:26 of goalless hockey at home to start a season. The Islanders have outscored opponents 10-1 at UBS Arena this season and improved to 2-2-0. Chicago fell to its fourth loss in five games, with Arvid Soderblom making 15 saves.
Duclair and Stanley received the team’s internal player-of-the-game honours. Head coach Pete DeBoer said he had challenged Duclair that morning to return to the level of his first two games after a step back against the Rangers, and credited him for responding. Stanley, paired with Schaefer, said his job was to be simple and predictable so the 19-year-old could create, and he also stood up for Horvat after a late hit.
That hit became a post-game talking point: Nazar was assessed a five-minute major for a hit to the head on Horvat in the final minutes, moments after scoring Chicago’s only goal.
The night’s most consequential news, though, concerned Romanov, who left Tuesday’s 5-2 loss to the New York Rangers. The torn ACL in his right knee ends the defenseman’s regular season and removes a physical, top-four presence from a blue line already leaning heavily on a teenager. How the Islanders cover those minutes, internally or in the trade market, is now the defining question of their autumn.
Both teams play again on Saturday, the Islanders hosting the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Blackhawks continuing their schedule against Carolina. For Chicago, a young roster searching for its first consistent run of results, the late goal and the fight shown in the third period were modest consolations. For New York, two points at home came at a price that will be measured over months, not nights.
