ELMONT, N.Y. — There were plenty of choices for the best aspect of the Islanders’ latest win.
The candidates: Ilya Sorokin’s shutdown performance in net; Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s special teams production; the penalty kill; the defensive structure limiting time and space to Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl; the 60-minute sustained effort.
The answer: All of the above.
Sorokin made a career-high 50 saves for his second shutout and 12th of his career. Pageau scored on both the power play and shorthanded as the Islanders won their second straight and for 11th time in 15 games with a 3-0 victory over the Oilers on Wednesday night at UBS Arena.
The Islanders (13-8-0) killed off all five of the Oilers’ power-play chances — including three in the third period — despite 14 shots on the man advantage.
The game marked the NHL debut of Simon Holmstrom, the 23rd overall pick in 2019 who was recalled earlier in the day from the Islanders’ AHL affiliate in Bridgeport. Kyle Palmieri is day-to-day with an upper-body injury after being shaken up in Monday night’s 3-2 overtime win in Toronto in a third-period neutral-zone collision with defenseman Morgan Rielly.
Jack Campbell (27 saves) started for the Oilers (10-10-0) despite having his nose broken by a puck as he sat on the bench during Monday’s 5-2 road loss to the Devils. He entered the game with a 4.27 goals-against average and an .873 save percentage and simply wasn’t as good as Sorokin.
Still, he kept the Oilers in it until Pageau shifted the game’s tenor within a second-period span of two minutes, six seconds.
Anthony Beauvillier was called for an offensive-zone slash on defenseman Darnell Nurse at 4:11, giving the potent Oilers’ power play its first chance.
The Oilers entered the game ranked second in the NHL on the power play at 21-for-67 (31.3%) and second on the road at 9-for-29 (31.0%). Wednesday marked just the sixth time this season they haven’t netted a power-play goal.
But defenseman Adam Pelech started a shorthanded rush in the defensive zone and Zach Parise, skating up the left wall, found Pageau cutting to the crease for a 1-0 lead at 4:33.
Defenseman Tyson Barrie kept the Islanders from another shorthanded rush as he held Cal Clutterbuck at 5:21, negating the final 51 seconds of the Oilers’ power play.
Pageau then made it 2-0 with a power-play goal at 6:39. Pageau was actually trying to feed a cutting Anders Lee to the crease but his pass deflected in off the stick of Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard. Mathew Barzal’s primary assist extended his point streak to six games.
Sebastian Aho made it 3-0 from below the left circle at 16:56 after Oliver Wahlstrom controlled the puck behind the crease and found the defenseman open.
The Islanders’ strong start in the first period was the foundation for their three-goal second period.
The Islanders took the game’s first seven shots and the Oilers’ first shot at 12:03 of the first period was a 142-foot backhander by Ryan McLeod that was meant as a dump in.
The Oilers’ second chance was much more dangerous as defenseman Scott Mayfield and Brock Nelson could not connect on a defensive-zone pass and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ shot from the left circle trickle through Sorokin before he leaned back and smothered the puck.
Sorokin also had to stretch out his right pad to deny Zach Hyman’s backhander at 16:58 as he raced to the crease.
The Islanders’ two best chances came in the final minute as Campbell stopped Pageau’s wraparound to the left post with 39.3 seconds left then stoned Nelson at the crease off a feed from defenseman Ryan Pulock with 7.7 seconds remaining.
