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Oilers can’t get anything past Ilya Sorokin as Islanders pick up 1-0 road win: Recap, Reaction, and Highlights
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Photo credit: © Perry Nelson-Imagn Images
Ryley Delaney
Jan 16, 2026, 00:00 ESTUpdated: Jan 16, 2026, 00:02 EST
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There’s nothing more boring than a game against the New York Islanders.
That was the fate of the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday evening. After 60 minutes of “action”, the Oilers fell 1-0 to Ilya Sorokin. Let’s take a look at what happened.
The lone goal came with about six minutes left in the game on the only Islanders’ power play of the game. Calum Ritchie received the puck down low beside Connor Ingram, and then passed it behind his back to Anthony Duclair.  The Islanders’ forward was given way too much in the slot, beating Ingram for the 1-0 lead.
There were some lowlights in/during the game, and I’m not just talking about Kyle Tucker signing with the Dodgers. The Oilers thought they scored twice in the third period, the horn even came on for the first, as Evan Bouchard hit two bars, but the puck stayed out.
Seeking a goal with their goalie pulled, the Oilers came oh so close to tying the game. From his office, Leon Draisaitl ripped the puck on a one-timer, but it hit the post and went wide. The Islanders were able to kill off the rest of the time.

Takeaways…

It was a goaltender battle.  Ilya Sorokin stopped all 35 shots that he faced, making numerous big saves along the way. If there was a worse goalie between the Islanders’ pipes, the Oilers would’ve won this game handedly. Seriously, the Oilers had 4.3 expected goals and 17 high-danger scoring chances in this game, according to Natural Stat Trick.
Most of Connor Ingram’s big saves came in the first period, facing just six shots over the last two periods. It only took one goal for the win, but Ingram stopped 17 of 18 shots for a .944 save percentage, the seventh time in eight games he’s had a save percentage above .900. He was good enough for a win on any other day.
Connor McDavid’s point streak has come to an end. It began after a 1-0 loss at the hands of the Minnesota Wild on Dec. 2, and ended with a 1-0 loss to the Islanders. In the 20 games, McDavid registered 46 points as the Oilers went 12-5-2.
The only line that had a subpar game was the fourth line of Trent Frederic, Mattias Janmark, and Curtis Lazar, as they had 32.85 percent of the expected goal share, giving up three high-danger opportunities while generating two of their own during five-on-five play. They had five defensive zone starts.
Their third line was the best line, as they had 86.32 percent of the expected goal share in their seven minutes and 40 seconds. Both the first and second line had strong games as well, as both lines had about 74 percent of the expected goal share.
At the end of the day, expected goals don’t count for much unless the puck goes into the net, but this wasn’t a devastating loss, they just got goalie’d. The Oilers are back in action on Saturday at 8:00 PM MT on the road against the Vancouver Canucks. After that, they’ll play their next eight games at Rogers Place.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Oilersnation, FlamesNation, and Blue Jays Nation. Follow her on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.

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