Sorokin makes 27 saves, Islanders end Lightning's 7-game winning streak

ELMONT, N.Y. -- Ilya Sorokin made 27 saves for the New York Islanders, who ended the Tampa Bay Lightning's seven-game winning streak with a 2-1 victory at UBS Arena on Tuesday.

Bo Horvat and Anthony Duclair scored for the Islanders (14-10-3), who had lost three in a row (0-2-1) and four of the first five games of their seven-game homestand (1-3-1).

"It's funny how hockey is, because I thought we played really, really well the first five games of the homestand and came up 1-3-1, and tonight was probably the game that we played ... I don't think we played badly, but we didn't play as well as in the other games and we came up with the win," New York coach Patrick Roy said.

Dominic James scored the lone goal for the Lightning (16-8-2). Andrei Vasilevskiy made 21 saves.

“I thought we played pretty well, to be honest,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “You grab me the team in this league that goes 82-0, I want to see that team. Nobody likes to lose games, but there are times when you win some games and you don't play that well, maybe you don't deserve it. Sometimes you lose games and you've leaned on a team, you've done everything quite possible, and it doesn't go in for you. And that's what I thought this was. We had the puck a lot, we had our chances. They didn't go in, but I can't fault our effort and everything we did. The bounces, I guess, ran out for us.”

Horvat gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead 55 seconds into the second period. He received a return pass from Maxim Shabanov on a rush before scoring on his own rebound in the slot.

Sorokin preserved the one-goal lead at 12:35 by sticking out his left pad to deny Anthony Cirelli, who tried to lift a backhand in at the right post after getting behind the defense.

Duclair extended the lead to 2-0 at 5:30 of the third period. He poked the puck away from Pontus Holmberg right to Calum Ritchie, who passed back to Duclair for a one-timer from the edge of the left circle that beat Vasilevskiy blocker side.

It was Duclair's first goal since Nov. 4 (14 games).

“There are nights where we absolutely need [secondary scoring], and we got that tonight,” Islanders captain Anders Lee said. “And that’s the difference-maker. Sometimes you get guys up and down the lineup contributing, and it's not always just on the score sheet, but tonight it was, and that was the difference in our night."

James cut it to 2-1 at 16:26. He curled out from below the goal line and banked a sharp-angled shot in off Sorokin's glove.

“I think we just kind of lost that shot mentality a little bit in the first,” James said. “I think we kind of got it back there. As you can see, we kind of tilted the ice, but I think that's just what it was. I think Cooper said it during the intermission, we kind of made it pretty easy on Sorokin there. So, the harder we make it on their goalie, obviously, the easier it is for us. ... We won seven in a row, and we obviously wanted to win this one, but we made a good effort in the end."

The Lightning pulled Vasilevskiy immediately after winning the ensuing face-off, and they were able to generate a number of quality scoring chances while hemming the Islanders in their own zone.

However, Ryan Pulock and Simon Holmstrom each blocked a shot attempt while Sorokin turned aside two more to seal the victory.

“We got big saves, big blocks by our guys,” Horvat said. “Holmstrom and (Emil) Heineman were big there. They were stressing me out, not putting that puck in the empty net, but other than that, I thought we defended well. We protected our house really well.”