Islanders vs. Devils: Ilya Sorokin's 30th Career Shutout and Victor Eklund's First Goal Fuel 6-0 Rout

The New Jersey Devils got five power plays and 37 shots on goal. They got zero goals. Ilya Sorokin saw to that, and the New York Islanders made sure the rest of the night got ugly in a hurry.

Sorokin stopped every shot for the 30th shutout of his career, Victor Eklund scored his first NHL goal, and the Islanders hammered the Devils 6-0 in their home opener on Saturday night at UBS Arena. Six different Islanders scored, and six finished with multiple points.

Twenty Minutes of Nothing, Then a Landslide

For one period, this looked like a goalie duel. Amadeus Lombardi went to the box twice for New Jersey, Logan Stanley and Eklund each took a minor for the Islanders, and neither power play could solve the goalie in front of it. Nico Daws and Sorokin handled everything, and the first intermission arrived with the score still 0-0.

The second period ended that illusion fast. At 3:32, Jean-Gabriel Pageau slid the puck past Jonas Siegenthaler's outstretched stick and Simon Holmstrom tapped it in at the left post. Just 1:28 later, Eklund tried to bank a puck off Daws' pad from below the goal line, it bounced right to Brayden Schenn in front, and Schenn buried it for a 2-0 lead at 5:00.

The Islanders added a power-play goal at 12:08 that showed off their two newest leaders. Matthew Schaefer, named the youngest assistant captain in Islanders history earlier in the week according to the AP, kept the puck in at the blue line, walked to the top of the slot and found Bo Horvat on the right side. Horvat, named the 16th captain in franchise history on Sept. 14, ripped a one-timer from a sharp angle past Daws' glove for a 3-0 lead.

"We were playing preseason hockey against a team that was probably playing February-type hockey," Devils coach Sheldon Keefe said, per NHL.com. "They played on another level."

The Turning Point: A 1:28 Burst That Broke New Jersey

The Holmstrom and Schenn goals, scored 1:28 apart, flipped a tight game into a chase, and New Jersey never found a counterpunch. The Devils went 0-for-5 on the power play, and every shot they did put on net ended up in Sorokin's possession.

The Islanders also won nearly every grunt-work category on the sheet: 25-15 in hits, 9-3 in takeaways, 14-8 in blocked shots and 28-21 on face-offs. That is how a team gets outshot and still wins by six.

The third period was a victory lap. Calum Ritchie chipped a puck to Eklund in the low slot off the rush at 11:32, and the 2025 first-round pick finished it for his first NHL goal. Ondrej Palat followed 42 seconds later, burying a cross-crease feed from Casey Cizikas at 12:14 to make it 5-0. Cizikas then capped the night with a short-handed breakaway goal at 18:41, while Kyle Palmieri sat in the box for slashing.

"I think we're getting better game by game," said Horvat, who added that guys are still learning a new system.

Stars of the Night

Sorokin made 37 saves, and NHL.com noted he reached 30 career shutouts in 310 games, the fewest among active goaltenders, ahead of Darcy Kuemper (329). "We continue to build our system," Sorokin said. "I think today we didn't give them a lot of chances."

Eklund, the No. 16 pick in the 2025 NHL Draft, had a goal and an assist in his third career game, and the goal came on his 20th birthday, per NHL.com. "Oh, it felt amazing," he said. "I couldn't do it on a better day. So, yeah, amazing feeling."

Schaefer had two assists in 20:34, and Stanley added two assists and four hits. Pageau set up the opening goal and won nine of 16 face-offs, and Adam Pelech finished plus-3 with an assist. Schenn, Cizikas and Holmstrom each had a goal and an assist, and Horvat scored on the power play in 18:31. NHL.com noted it was the first time the Islanders had at least five multipoint players in a game since a 9-0 home win over these same Devils on Jan. 6.

For New Jersey, Daws made 26 saves on 32 shots and took the loss squarely on his own shoulders. "I know there's goals out there I want back," he said. "We've got to learn from it and move on. It's a really long season."

Stats That Matter

• 37: Saves for Sorokin, who stopped everything.
• 0-for-5: New Jersey's power play, which also gave up a short-handed goal.
• 1:28: The gap between the Holmstrom and Schenn goals that opened the scoring.
• 6: Islanders players with multiple points.
• 17: Straight goals the Islanders have scored at home against New Jersey, dating to a 2-1 win over the Devils on Dec. 23, 2025, per NHL.com.

What It Means

The Islanders are 1-1-0 after a 2-1 loss at Toronto on Wednesday, and coach Pete DeBoer framed the win as a payoff for a long training camp. "The guys getting rewarded," DeBoer said when asked about the most rewarding part. "Guys were really dialed in, and you want them to be rewarded for that commitment early because it promotes a belief in what you're doing, and if you don't win games, then it's hard to build that. So I think it was an important win." New York visits the Rangers on Tuesday.

New Jersey falls to 1-1-0 after beating Philadelphia in its opener. The Devils outshot the Islanders 37-32 and still lost by six, which says plenty about Sorokin and about how few clean looks New Jersey actually got. New Jersey hosts the Utah Mammoth on Tuesday.

Closing Take

This was the Islanders' housewarming party, and the Devils got stuck doing the dishes. Sorokin was the bouncer, Eklund brought the birthday cake, and the new captain and his youngest lieutenant handed out the party favors. One game does not make a season, but if the Islanders keep defending like this in front of the best goalie in the building, February-type hockey might just stay on the menu all year.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details from the Associated Press; postgame quotes and notes as reported by NHL.com.