Kyle Palmieri moved the puck up the ice on the right side to Emil Heineman, who entered the zone with possession and speed. Heineman found Horvat dashing past Fox and delivered a pass to the bottom of the left circle in stride so Horvat could put it in.
“Luckily, I dragged my leg as far as I did to get that onside,” Horvat said. “It was a great heads-up play by ‘Heini’ to get it over to me but I’m just trying to get it off as quick as possible. I think maybe the speed put him back on his heels a bit.”
Drouin made it 2-0 at 19:27, finishing off a pass from Anthony Duclair as he drove the net following a Rangers’ neutral zone turnover.
Panarin couldn’t handle Zibanejad’s pass along the wall and Pageau got to the puck. He moved it up to Duclair, who found Drouin in the middle. Drouin pulled off a forehand-backhand move and slid the puck past Shesterkin.
“For me, tonight we beat ourselves,” Sullivan said. “This is one of the better teams at generating chances off the rush. We talked about it before the game. The most important aspect of that is managing the puck, making them play goal line to goal line and not three quarters of the rink. We did none of the above.
“It’s inexplicable to me.”
Horvat’s second of the game gave the Islanders a 3-0 lead while on a power play at 18:42 of the second period.
Horvat, in the right circle, gave Drouin the puck down by the right post. Drouin had space and time but couldn’t find an opening.
“Shesterkin was just staring at me,” Drouin said. “I didn’t have much to do except jam it in his pads.”
He said he saw Horvat and decided to send it back to him with a pass through Vladislav Gavrikov’s legs.
“I saw the hole there,” Drouin said. “That was where I was aiming, hopefully Bo was in that lane.”
Horvat said he was surprised to get the puck back, but he sent a snap shot from the right face-off circle past Shesterkin’s glove.
“When he dumped it back to me I was kind of in shock so I just tried to get it off as quick as possible,” Horvat said.
Pageau scored into the empty net at 17:59 of the third period to make it 4-0, and then he led a 2-on-1 to set up Lee, who scored at 19:30 for the 5-0 final.
“We’ve talked enough about it,” Fox said. “We’ve just got to find a way to win at home.”
Their next chance is Monday against the Nashville Predators.
“We’ve got to find a way to score,” Zibanejad said.
NOTES: Sorokin’s shutout was his first of the season and 23rd of his career, all with the Islanders. He passed Billy Smith to move into sole possession of second place on the team’s all-time shutout list, two behind Glenn “Chico” Resch. … It was also Sorokin’s second shutout against the Rangers. He’s the third Islanders goalie with multiple shutouts against the Rangers, joining Semyon Varlamov (five) and Jaroslav Halak (two).
