Red Wings edge Islanders with 2-1 win – Hockey Writers – Detroit Red Wings

The Detroit Red Wings and New York Islanders lock horns in the first of two meetings over the next four days. It was a goalkeeping battle between Alex Lyon and Ilya Sorokin, with both strikers leading their team in scoring goals. At the end of the night, the Red Wings went 2-1, moving to 8-9-2, while the Islanders fell to 7-8-5.

Recap of the game

The first 20 minutes of the game started fast for the Red Wings, they will face the Islanders within two minutes of the game starting. The penalty made the third-ranked Red Wings' power play work, but what stood out was the 31st-ranked Islanders' kill, which kept the Wings' top-ranked power play at bay. The momentum shifted to the Islanders a little bit after a successful kill and the Red Wings got into their defense to get a goal from Simon Holmström when he redirected Scott Mayfield's first shot. This ended up being the only goal in the first half, with the Islanders leading 1-0 after 20 minutes.

The second half was dominated by the Red Wings for the most part, with two power play opportunities, but a mix of over-managing and a strong penalty kill from the Islanders would have them looking at an 0-for-3 night in 40 minutes of play while manning the game. The Red Wings controlled much of the offensive zone as they did in the early going, but Sorokin rose to the challenge, stopping 11 shots in both of the game's first two periods. Lyon was only tested six times that time, but his best save came with less than 30 seconds remaining on a sliding left-footed pass to keep his team within one goal heading into the third period.

The third period was a battle between the two teams, with Lyon and Sorokin holding their own until the Red Wings finally scored their first goal of the game with less than five minutes remaining when Jonathan Berggren replaced Alexander. Romanov breaks his stick in an attempt to shoot. The play led to Berggren getting a nice pass from JT Compher to rush down and beat Sorokin with a shot over his blocker to bring the Red Wings within one goal. Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin ended up scoring his team's game-winning goal, beating Ryan Pulock in the attack zone and finding Lucas Raymond in the slot with a quick shot that again beat Sorokin. giving the Red Wings the lead with less than a minute left.

In the win, Lyon made 22 saves on 23 shots, while teammate Sorokin made 29 of 31 shots faced. Both teams return to the ice on Nov. 23, the Red Wings welcome the Boston Bruins to Detroit and the Islanders return home to face the St. Louis Blues.