3rd effort propels Islanders to 1st win

CHICAGO — While the Islanders searched for their game, Ilya Sorokin bought some time for the rest of his team. And it was more than enough for them to pick up their first win of the season.

Sorokin made 39 saves and Oliver Wahlstrom scored twice in the third period, helping the Islanders beat the Blackhawks 4-1 on Tuesday night.

“A step in the right direction, for sure,” forward Cal Clutterbuck said.

Clutterbuck and Anthony Beauvillier also scored as the Islanders improved to 1-2-0 on their opening 13-game road trip. They won’t play their first game at the new UBS Arena until Nov. 20.

The Islanders scored three times in the third. Wahlstrom made it 2-0 when he intercepted an errant pass by Henrik Borgstrom and eluded sliding defenseman Jake McCabe before beating Fleury through the goaltender’s legs 48 seconds into the period.

Wahlstrom then scored from the left circle at 8:51, and Clutterbuck made it 4-0 with his first of the season at 11:06.

The 21-year-old Wahlstrom also scored during a 5-1 loss at Florida on Saturday night.

“When Wally gets open, he can shoot it as good as any young player in the league,” Islanders coach Barry Trotz said.

Chicago outplayed the Islanders for long stretches in its home opener, but remained winless at 0-3-1.

MacKenzie Entwistle scored for Chicago with 26 seconds left, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 25 stops.

The Islanders got Matt Martin back after the forward missed the first two games because of offseason ankle surgery, but Anders Lee was scratched because of an illness. The team said it wasn’t COVID-19 related. … Goaltender Semyon Varlamov is practicing with the team again. He opened the season on injured reserve with what the club described as “soreness.”