The last time Ilya Sorokin played a game with his father watching from the stands, he was 17 years old.
But during the Islanders’ 4-1 win over the Red Wings on Saturday, Igor Sorokin was in the stands for the first time in his son’s NHL career, as Ilya traveled from Russia to turn away 22 of 23 shots in a routine victory. was .
“He didn’t watch live games,” Ilya Sorokin said. “He was very nervous.”
Sorokin is a native of Mezdurchensk, Russia, a city of just over 100,000 in southwestern Siberia, and his father worked as a miner.
At age 12, Sorokin moved away from home to pursue hockey, later playing professionally in Novokuznetsk, a city near Mezhdurchensk, but his father rarely visited him.
“Maybe after he watched it once or twice, one game I said, ‘What are you doing? Watch more games,'” Sorokin joked.
Sorokin didn’t waste an opportunity in front of his dad, and neither did the Islanders, who played a strong game against the Red Wings, overcoming a 1-0 deficit to score four times in the final period and take game one. left behind Controlled during d.
Sorokin wasn’t asked to get the Islanders out of too much trouble, but his poke check on Lucas Raymond early in the game helped prevent Detroit from jumping out to the lead.
“Really good game,” Sorokin said of the game. “Really good start. Really good third period. “
Pierre Engvall skated 17:26 in his Islanders debut, making two of five shot attempts on net while playing on the top line with Anders Lee and Bo Horvat.
“Obviously it’s a whole new line,” Engvall said. “I think we found each other really well there. I try to conquer many pies, find the middle boys. I think we did a great job. “
According to Natural Stat Trick, the Islanders’ top line outscored the Red Wings 10-3 with an 11-5 scoring opportunity margin.
“I liked him a lot,” coach Lane Lambert said of Engvall. “He obviously showed his speed. There are little things in the game… that I liked that he did in terms of his thought process in certain areas. “
Kyle Palmieri had his fourth multi-point game of the season and first since Jan. 27 — also against the Red Wings — with a goal and a secondary assist.
