Anthony Duclair\u2019s time with the Islanders has not gone the way either the well-traveled wing or the organization expected. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a struggle, from an injury-plagued first season that ended with him taking a leave of absence and needing to repair his relationship with coach Patrick Roy during the offseason to being a healthy scratch the previous two games and in three of the last five matches. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou know what? Dukey deserved tonight,\u201d Mathew Barzal said. \u201cHe comes to the rink every day with a smile on his face.\u201d <\/p>\n
Everything went right on Tuesday night, as Duclair\u2019s natural hat trick was part of his career-high, five-point game to power a 9-0-win over the Devils at UBS Arena that also saw Ilya Sorokin return from a seven-game absence for a lower-body injury to make 44 saves and set the franchise record with his 26th career shutout. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m going to start with Anthony,\u201d coach Patrick Roy said. \u201cI know it was hard for him to be a healthy scratch the last couple of games so I\u2019m happy to see the way he bounced back tonight. I always thought he had a great shot and tonight he showed it.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cKeep shooting, that\u2019s the main thing,\u201d said Duclair, who took three shots in 13:41 and was the first Islander to be a plus-six since 1983. \u201c[Roy and I] have had some really good talks over the year, especially the last few weeks and I totally understand where he\u2019s coming from. Whenever I get the opportunity, I just want to make the most of it.\u201d <\/p>\n
The romp served as a perfect send-off for the Islanders (24-15-4) as they open a seven-game road trip Thursday night in Nashville. <\/p>\n
Sorokin broke a tie with Chico Resch \u2014 in the building as the Devils\u2019 radio analyst \u2014 for the shutout mark. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was a little nervous because I wasn\u2019t playing for two weeks,\u201d said Sorokin, who stopped multiple point-blank shots as the Devils had a 17-5 edge in high-danger chances according to NaturalStatTrick.com. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was a little bit not in my game the first couple of minutes but, after the shots, I started to feel confidence and the guys helped me by scoring a lot tonight. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s good memories,\u201d Sorokin said of setting the team record. \u201cBut, first of all it\u2019s teamwork. Without my teammates, I have nothing.\u201d <\/p>\n
Said Duclair, \u201cIt\u2019s not 9-0 without him.\u201d <\/p>\n
Duclair, who signed a four-year, $14 million deal with the Islanders \u2014 his ninth NHL stop \u2014 to be a top-six forward, has instead spent most of his playing time this season in the bottom six. He started Tuesday\u2019s match on Casey Cizikas\u2019 fourth line with Kyle MacLean. <\/p>\n
He completed his fourth hat trick \u2014 his first since Dec. 14, 2019 with the Senators \u2014 on a one-timer from the right circle off Barzal\u2019s feed to make it 4-0 at 3:29 of the second period. <\/p>\n
The last Islander to score a hat trick after not playing the previous game was Hall of Famer Mike Bossy in 1983. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s huge,\u201d said Duclair, whose mother attended the game. \u201cI\u2019m very thankful for all the fans that threw their hats. It\u2019s a great feeling.\u201d <\/p>\n
Both of Duclair\u2019s first-period goals came off transition rushes. He made it 2-0 at 4:01 of the first period as he led a three-on-one rush after defenseman Adam Pelech chipped the puck out of the Islanders\u2019 zone. Duclair connected again from the left at 13:31 and he had not had a multi-goal game since notching two for the Sharks on March 5, 2024. He was traded to the Lightning two days later. <\/p>\n
Jacob Markstrom stopped 15 shots for the Devils (22-19-2), who have lost all three games to the Islanders this season. <\/p>\n
Cizikas scored twice in the third period and added an assist, Barzal had a goal and two assists and Cal Ritchie, Simon Holmstrom and defenseman Tony DeAngelo also added goals. <\/p>\n
Notes & quotes: Bo Horvat (lower body) missed his second game but Roy said he would travel with the Islanders for the road trip .\u2002.\u2002. Defenseman Ryan Pulock\u2019s two assists gave him 233 career points to move him past Kenny Jonsson for fifth in Islanders\u2019 history among defensemen .\u2002.\u2002. Defenseman Cole McWard, 24, playing his second game for the Islanders and eighth NHL game, notched his first career assist on Duclair\u2019s second goal.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n\tAndrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John\u2019s and MLB.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Anthony Duclair\u2019s time with the Islanders has not gone the way either the well-traveled wing or the organization…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":395072,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5109],"tags":[201,19698,5,576,151,159,5185,5184,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-395071","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-jersey-devils","8":"tag-devils","9":"tag-gamer","10":"tag-hockey","11":"tag-new-jersey","12":"tag-new-jersey-devils","13":"tag-new-york-islanders","14":"tag-newjersey","15":"tag-newjerseydevils","16":"tag-nhl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115852510776706911","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=395071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395071\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/395072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=395071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=395071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=395071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}