Islanders salvage end of ugly road trip with win over Capitals

WASHINGTON — Far more than the result, and far more than the way the Islanders got there in an ugly, gritty road win, Friday night was about two things.

First: Ilya Sorokin having his best game of the season, stealing one for the Islanders and looking every bit the best version of himself in making 22 saves.

And second: top prospect Cal Ritchie making his Islanders debut after a travel odyssey prevented him from doing so Thursday, and facilitating the rejoining of Mat Barzal and Bo Horvat on the top line by the fact of his presence.

The impact of those two developments, if they stick, will likely far outlast that of Horvat’s game-winner early in the third period, or the eventual 3-1 Islanders win over the Capitals — though, of course, snapping a three-game losing streak and salvaging something from this road trip is far from nothing.

“At the end of a road trip like that, obviously we weren’t happy with the first two games,” Horvat said. “For us to come and get the win like this [against a] really good hockey team, that says a lot about our group, our resiliency.”

Barzal was back in the lineup, too, having missed Thursday’s loss to Carolina as a disciplinary measure for being late to the team bus, but it became clear early in the night that if the Islanders were going to have this one, it would be on the back of their goalie.

Throughout the first period, they struggled to get out of their own zone, let alone generate much, against the Capitals — forcing the Islanders to fall back on Sorokin, who bailed out his team’s miscues again and again.

After Sorokin’s own poor start to the season, though, his ability to keep the Islanders in the game marked a crucial development, albeit one the Isles would have liked not to be so dependent on.

On a night where the Isles didn’t have much left in their legs, having played twice in the previous three days, it was a safety net, and one they desperately needed.

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“He was, without a doubt, the first star of the game for us, in my mind, because of the way he played in that first period,” coach Patrick Roy said. “He looked so solid. Everything seemed so easy and it was a pretty solid performance by him.”

With the game tied at one entering the third period — Tom Wilson and Jean-Gabriel Pageau traded second-period goals, the latter coming shorthanded — and the Isles having struggled to come up with much offense, Roy changed up his lines, putting Barzal and Horvat together alongside Emil Heineman, and using Ritchie as the center between Jonathan Drouin and Kyle Palmieri.

After 40 minutes of listless hockey, that gave the Islanders life, and Heineman fed Horvat on the rush to make it a 2-1 game 4:29 into the third.

And, despite going 0-for-5 on the power play, despite playing much of the game in their own end and despite needing to hang onto the lead for over 15 long minutes, that turned out to be enough to walk out with two badly-needed points. A 5-for-5 performance on the penalty kill, including Pageau’s shorthanded goal, didn’t hurt either.

Barzal, fittingly after his benching 24 hours prior, sealed the game with an empty-net goal.

“I’m a bit more comfortable at center, I’d say,” Ritchie — who started the game on Barzal’s wing — told The Post. “I think it’s a bit more natural to me. I’m thinking less, I’d say. Obviously I can adjust to the wing, it’s just gonna take a bit of time.”

The 21-year-old, who played seven games with the Avalanche last season, struggled in the early goings, in no small part because he spent the better part of the last 24 hours dealing with travel delays. His third period, back at his natural position, was easily his best, and if there is a longer-term fit there, it would be a boon to the Islanders.

Big as that would be, though, it has nothing on the impact if Sorokin has worked past his early-season malaise.

“I don’t want to really talk about my game,” Sorokin said. “Just want to say about team game. I think it was a solid game with discipline, a lot of blocked shots. It was a really, really smart game.”

Roy, though, knows from experience what a game like this can do for a goalie.

“As a goalie, I’m sure you need a game like this,” he said. “And fully, that brings the confidence that will help you get on a roll.”