New York Islanders netminder Ilya Sorokin got the win against the Toronto Maple Leafs, something he needed after a few rough games.
New York Islanders netminder Ilya Sorokin got the win against the Toronto Maple Leafs, something he needed after a few rough games.
If anyone needed to see two points hit the standings, it was New York Islanders netminder Ilya Sorokin.
The 28-year-old goaltender had allowed nine goals over his previous two outings heading into his start against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night, a game that would draw extra eyes given the matchup and the fact that it was a nationally televised game on ESPN.
In Vegas to close out the road trip, Sorokin allowed five goals on 29 shots, a few that may have been challenging to stop but shots that he's shown the ability to stop in the past.
Then, in the Islanders' first home game back from the trip, their first home game of 2024, Sorokin mimicked his Saturday showing. The Vancouver Canucks, who dominated the Islanders in terms of puck possession, put up a five-spot on Sorokin, who, again, allowed more than he should have in a 5-2 loss.
With Casey Cizikas out with an injury and the Islanders hosting a team that had won four straight games, outscoring their opponents 16-3, New York would need 2022-23 Vezina-finalist Sorokin to show up.
And that he did.
Despite going down 3-1 in the second period -- after a wide-open one-timer and two Auston Matthew highlights, Sorokin had a job to do, and that was to keep his team in the fight as long as he could.
As the Islanders mounted the comeback, Sorokin made one key save after another., topping the final 20 shots he faced after Matthews' second goal before Noah Dobson found Mathew Barzal at the back post for the overtime tally.
When the buzzer went off, Sorokin had denied 32 of the 35 shots he faced, including eight of 10 high-danger shots, according to NaturalStatrick.com.
His best save, or one of them, came on an in-tight deflection by William Nylander with 2:10 to play in the first period, with the score knotted at 1-1.
It was just Sorokin's second win over his last six starts, but it was a critical one, ending the Islanders mini two-game skid and earning two points at home as the club now travels to Nashville to start a four-game road trip.
"It was important for him to win tonight because he wasn't happy with his game the last two games," Islanders defenseman and Sorokin's best bud Alexander Romanov said following the win. "I'm really happy for him. We supported him today, and he had a great game."
Islanders head coach Lane Lambert echoed Romanov's sentiments.
"I thought he was great," Lambert said. "I thought it made some huge saves when we needed him to. I thought he was sharp. A couple of big saves at the end on Nyiander there. So I thought he played very well."
You can always tell early on in a game just how dialed in Sorokin was. Against Toronto, he was aggressive from the get-go and, more importantly, controlled his rebounds.
But one of the most vital areas of Sorokin's game Thursday night was his ability to fight through screens, which has been an issue all season for the elite netminder.
Because he was finding the puck, it allowed him to control most, if not all, of his rebounds. Even when he didn't find the puck, his aggressive positioning allowed the puck to hit him, which was a game-changer for New York, given the number of shots Toronto likes to throw on the net and the number of bodies t they send to the crease.
Sorokin wasn't named one of the game's three stars, but anytime New York earns two points, he usually plays a critical role in the result.
Through the first half of the season, the Islanders have struggled with consistency, and Sorokin has played a massive part in that.
In 29 appearances, 28 starts through the Islanders' first 41 games, Sorokin owns a 3.19 GAA and a .909 SV%, with two shutouts.
Not that you shouldn't pay attention to the elevated goals against or the underwhelming save percentage, but there's no question he hasn't been the elite goaltender he showcased a season ago.
Yes, he is playing behind a weak defense for most of this season, but that's nothing new for Sorokin, who was left out to dry last season.
The difference is that last season, Sorokin bailed the Islanders out often, owning a 2.35 GAA with a .924 SV% despite facing 1,838 shots, 29.64 shots per game. According to NaturalStatrick.com, 573 were high-danger shots, facing 9.24 high-danger shots per game.
This season, Sorokin's faced a league-high 1,006 shots, a 58-shot lead over Colorado Avalanche netminder Alexandar Georgiev. That's an average of 34.69 shots against per game.
Of the 1,006 shots, 263 have been considered high-danger shots, averaging 9.10 high-danger shots per game.
So, it's been a similar storyline this year regarding Sorokin being left for dead in goal.
The difference has been his bailout ability, which has limited the Islanders' ability to earn points.
So, with 41 games remaining in the 2023-24 season, Sorokin is the master key to consistency.
Should that be the case?
No.
Should the Islanders offense be able to take pressure off Sorokin on a nightly basis?
Yes.
Should the defensive structure, with Adam Pelech back, be much stronger in front of him?
Yes.
But, in hockey's simplest form, the team that allows the fewest goals usually wins the game, and Sorokin has the power, as we saw a year ago, to allow fewer than 3.00 goals per game at a consistent rate.
It's not fair for the Islanders' success to ride solely on Sorokin's game, as we saw at the tail end of the 2022-23 campaign that the elite netminder was burning out, which affected his ability to be his dominant self in their first-round series against the Carolina Hurricanes.
But, with the Islanders averaging 3.07 goals per game, they need Sorokin to be 80 percent of what he was last season, and they will have zero issues qualifying for the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Point collection gets more challenging as the season progresses, and right now, the Islanders have earned enough to be sitting third in the tight Metropolitan Division.
If they want more at a consistent rate, Sorokin is the key, especially as Semyon Varlamov remains out of the lineup.
You can watch Rosner talk Islanders hockey on Hockey Night in New York with co-host Sean Cuthbert live Sunday nights at 8 PM ET during the season at twitch.tv/hockeynightny.