Sorokin has 17-save shutout for Islanders in victory against Coyotes

ELMONT, N.Y. -- Ilya Sorokin shut out the Arizona Coyotes for the second time this season when he made 17 saves for the New York Islanders in a 4-0 win at UBS Arena on Friday.

Sorokin, who made 26 saves in a 3-0 win at Arizona on Oct. 23, has won his past four starts and has allowed two goals or fewer in each. It was his fourth shutout of the season.
"We defended really well," New York coach Barry Trotz said. "… [The Coyotes] play a really good brand of hockey. They don't give you much. They don't give you odd-man rushes, they defend really well. They've got some skill, they can make some plays and they're dangerous when they go to the net. There's a lot of good things that Arizona is doing."

Brock Nelson scored twice, and Scott Mayfield had a goal and an assist for the Islanders (14-13-6), who have won three in a row and are 7-1-1 in their past nine games. Josh Bailey and Adam Pelech each had two assists.
"We've kind of been able to put it together here for a little bit," Mayfield said. "Things seem like they're coming together better. We want to be stingy in our end and then push the pace going forward."
Scott Wedgewood made 31 saves after missing seven games in NHL COVID-19 protocol for the Coyotes (10-25-4).
"We had breakdowns, which will happen in a game," Arizona coach Andre Tourigny said. "They had breakdowns as well, they just capitalized on ours. … I don't think we played a bad game after two periods, but it was real tough to create offense against them."
Mayfield gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead with a low slap shot from the right face-off circle at 13:51 of the first period. It was his first goal in 29 games.
Austin Czarnik one-timed a pass from Mayfield near the crease at 16:49 to make it 2-0.
"I thought we had a good start to the first period, and then we kind of gave them their offense and they capitalized on it," Coyotes defenseman Dysin Mayo said. "They're good at playing a trap game, so it was hard to get back into it after that."

Nelson scored at 1:22 of the third period with a wrist shot from the right circle after a lob pass from Bailey to give New York a 3-0 lead, then made it 4-0 on a sliding redirection of Anthony Beauvillier's feed at 9:59.
Sorokin preserved the shutout with a pad save on Liam O'Brien's wrist shot with 1:52 remaining.
New York outshot Arizona 21-4 in the third period.
"I think that's the style we want to play," Mayfield said. "When we got in their end, we were able to control the puck. We didn't give them easy exits coming back in the neutral zone, stuff like that. We did a good job offensively, and that's sometimes your best defense. But in our zone, I think we played physical, blocked shots and then we were able to exit the zone pretty cleanly."
NOTES: The Islanders announced immediately following the game that Clark Gillies, who won the Stanley Cup four times in a row from 1980-83, died Friday. He was 67. … Islanders center Casey Cizikas left the game at 6:24 of the third period with an undisclosed injury, and forward Oliver Wahlstrom did not receive a shift in the third period. "They're both fine," Trotz said. "[Wahlstrom's] fine. It was a coach's decision that he didn't get a shift." … Czarnik was plus-3 in 13:59 of ice time after being recalled from the taxi squad. … Coyotes forwards Travis Boyd, Nick Schmaltz and Clayton Keller, and defenseman Anton Stralman, were minus-3. … New York was playing the first of a seven-game homestand. … Each team was playing the first of back-to-back games. The Islanders play the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Coyotes are at the New York Rangers on Saturday.