Jakub Skarek made 27 saves on 32 shots in his first NHL game.

Despite a 6-3 loss on Sunday to the Florida Panthers, it was a special day for New York Islanders goaltender Jakub Skarek, making his NHL debut. 

Skarek was recalled last week following a lower-body injury to goaltender Marcus Hogberg. 

Head coach Patrick Roy said Skarek would play at some point, but his debut happened to come against the defending Stanley Cup champions:

"I felt good. It was a little bit more special of a game for me, but at the same time, I took it the same as a game in Bridgeport or just any other game," Skarek said postgame. 

While Skarek was expecting to be nervous ahead of his debut, he was able to stay calm with the help of his coaches. 

"I wasn't nervous that much. I was nervous from that, you know?" Skarek said. "So that was a little bit of a weird feeling. I was expecting myself to be a little bit more nervous, because, I've dreamt about it since I started playing hockey. 

In addition to preparing for the game as if it were any other game, he received advice from Roy. Despite the loss, he will cherish the advice he received from the Hall of Fame netminder.

"He's a legend, like one of the best goalies of history. It means a lot, even like every advice from the guys or the coaches," Skarek said. "So I'm just trying to listen to them and take in as much as I can. I'm disappointed we didn't win because we need every single point, and I want us to keep the streak going, but I'm just gonna keep working on myself and try to get better for the next game."

Skarek finished the night with 27 saves on 32 shots, even going bailout mode despite the Islanders being on their heels for stretches. The Islanders were outshot 15-4 in the first period, but Skarek kept the game at 2-0 Florida by the first intermission, allowing the Islanders to rally for three straight goals and take the lead in the second, albeit briefly. 

"When I was working, I was just trying to do some breath work and just do the routines I do, like in every single game," Skarek said, "So, it helped get the nerves a little bit down. I was just focusing on a few tasks."

What were those tasks? 

"I maybe paid a little bit more attention to basics, you know, like, reading the game well, looking for the pucks and trying to be a little bit more patient on my feet," Skarek said. "But as a game went on, I started to feel a bit more comfortable, and it was a great experience."

His Hockey Hall of Fame head coach gave Skarek a lot of credit postgame. 

"He gave us a chance," Roy said after his debut. "He was good in the first, we were not very good. He made those saves and gave us a chance. That's what we said after the first period, we had to come back, and too bad because we took a 3-2 lead, but there's a reason why they won the Stanley Cup, isn't it? It's a good team. It's a team that plays right away, and they're very disciplined in their structure. So, I think we learned a lot from that game tonight." 

Roy later added, "[Skarek's] the reason why there was a game here tonight."

Kyle MacLean, one of Skarek's teammates in Bridgeport, lit the lamp for the first of the three straight goals. As he played his second season in the NHL, he was glad to see the netminder break into the NHL. 

“Skary is great. He deserved his debut," MacLean said. "He's really dialed in, he’s got a great routine, he’s a pro, so it was good to see, and I obviously wish maybe I played a little better in front of him, didn’t give up as many opportunities, but he really deserved this, and I was happy to see it for him.”

Regardless of the outcome, Skarek was grateful for the opportunity to play his first game at the NHL level and is looking forward to his next opportunity. 

"I'm very, very grateful for this that I got a chance to play, and I'm definitely not going to forget this night for the rest of my life," Skarek said, "Even though the result wasn't as we wanted, how I really wanted us to win, keep the streak going, but you can't have it all. So, we will just keep working. I'm going to talk to my goalie coach, and we will see what things I could have done better on those goals and in general, so I can be better next time."

The Islanders have three more games before the NHL's Four Nations Face-Off break, the latter two part of a back-to-back against the Minnesota Wild on Friday before the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday.

With the Islanders in dire need of points, it's likely that Sorokin will get tasked with both, so we'll see if Skarek gets another start at some point as we wait for Marcus Hogberg to get back from his upper-body injury. 

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