ELMONT, NY – Against the talented Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Islanders netminder Ilya Sorokin would have his work cut out for him. From the get-go, the Leafs got chances and scored the game's opening tally. It seemed that Toronto was about to bury their second of the game, courtesy of Erik Gustafsson, but nothing is a sure goal when Sorokin is in between the pipes.With a wide-open cage, Sorokin stretched back with the paddle to make a jaw-dropping save to keep the Islanders within one.

Back on Feb 20, Sorokin robbed Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Kris Letang with the paddle. 

This save is not the first time Sorokin showed off the stick work against the New York Rangers last season at Madison Square Garden, he leaned back to rob Artemi Panarin for a highlight-reel save. 

That save won the NHL’s Best Save of the Year Award, as voted on by the fans. The one on Gustafsson may have just made him a back-to-back recipient.

The one on Gustafsson may have just made him a back-to-back recipient.

"It's ridiculous," Anders Lee said. "Woke us up on the bench. I think that turned the tide a little bit there. We needed that."

Sorokin shared that it's not something he practices at all, more just a reaction.

"I lose my position, and I just thought I have a small chance," Sorokin said.

If the Leafs scored there, that would have given them a 2-0 lead, likely changing the result.

"Who knows what happens from there," Islanders head coach Lane Lambert said. "But, that's just a goaltender that never gives up on any play."

In the words of Zach Parise, it was a game-changer.

"Game-changing, really. We've seen that so many times where they make those great saves, but they're always timely," Parise said. "Seems like they make one of those every game for us."

Sorokin stopped 25 of 27 in the 7-2 win over the Leafs, with other notable saves coming against Auston Matthews point-blank and David Kampf on a shorthanded breakaway chance en route to his 26th win of the season.