The Islanders gave Ilya Sorokin the first lead of his NHL career and he responded with his first win and shutout.
True, the Isles’ sweep came against a Covid-rusty Sabres squad, but the Sabres’ Covid close contacts, the Devils, also returned to play last night and made mince meat of the Smurfs. And earlier this season, the Isles were swept by a Capitals team playing shorthanded because four of its players broke Covid protocol.
So I’m not going to pretend like this was all in the bag, rather that they went into Buffalo with an advantage and made the most of it.