Sorokin is playing amazing, but Roy isn't going to give him the reigns.
Sorokin is playing amazing, but Roy isn't going to give him the reigns.
EAST MEADOW, NY -- New York Islanders star netminder Ilya Sorkin has been electric so far through two starts (1-0-1).
The 29-year-old has looked like the goalie the team gave an eight-year extension to worth $8.25 million, stopping 61 of the 65 shots he's faced for a .953 SV% and a 1.48 GAA.
"He's been outstanding," Islanders head coach Patrick Roy said. "He was really good in the game against Colorado, which was his first game. In the third period, he looked so calm and big that he made that save against Makar. Even at the end, we gave a little too much possession time in that game, and he made those cross-ice pad saves.
"The game after in St Louis, I thought he was really good again. He looks pretty confident out there, and he looks at ease in a way that his timing is pretty good."
Despite Sorokin's rebirth, if you will, after a career-worst 2023-24 campaign where he owned a 3.01 GAA and a .908 SV%, Roy is learning from past mistakes made with the talented netminder.
"We have two very good goaltenders, and we're certainly going to use both of them, especially with the tough schedule," Roy added. "The month of November will be even tougher. We play, what, 15 games in 30 days or something like that? So that'll be a good test for us."
Roy is, in fact, correct.
Outside of Sorokin coming off back surgery, he was overworked in the first half of the 2023-24 season, playing 35 of the team's first 49 games, which certainly impacted his performance.
"Maybe he was a bit tired at the end of the last year, and right now he's fresh," Roy said. "And that's why we're rotating our goalies the way we've been doing. We're trying to make sure he's he's going out there, and he's rested.
Sorokin missed the first week of training camp and the entirety of preseason rehabbing from his back surgery.
"The fact that he missed a lot, we didn't feel like we needed to throw him in all the time."
Roy said that Sorokin would start on Tuesday night when the Islanders host the Detroit Red Wings.
Varlamov, who started the first two games of the season and Saturday's 4-3 nine-round shootout win over the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night, owns a 2.37 GAA with an .868 SV% through three starts.
This will be his first start at home since Game 3 of their 2024 first-round series against the Carolina Hurricanes, where he was pulled after allowing three goals on 14 shots.