LOS ANGELES - The Islanders keep getting elite nights from Ilya Sorokin, and they keep leaving too much on the table.
That’s the frustrating reality behind their 0-2-2 slide, a stretch in which they have collected only two points despite Sorokin turning in two of his strongest outings of the season. The latest came Monday night, when he stopped 39 shots in a 3-2 eight-round shootout loss to the Sharks to open the three-game California trip. Before that, he was forced into a season-high 45 saves in Saturday night’s 5-4 overtime loss to the Devils at UBS Arena, a game in which New Jersey owned an 81-44 edge in total chances after the Islanders let a two-goal third-period lead slip away.
“He was phenomenal,” captain Bo Horvat told Newsday. “He’s the best goalie in the league for a reason and we’re lucky to have him. He brought us to get a point the last couple of games and he deserved better than what we gave him.”
Coach Pete DeBoer echoed that sentiment after the Sharks game.
“We’ve gotten points because he’s been our best player the last two nights,” DeBoer said. “But you don’t want to waste those performances.”
The Islanders’ problems in those games were easy to spot: missed chances when they had them, and too many penalties when they didn’t. That combination put Sorokin in too many high-pressure moments and kept the team from turning his work into wins.
According to MoneyPuck.com, Sorokin is eighth among NHL goalies with a goals saved above expected of plus-7.3.
“Those are just games we’ve got to learn how to close out,” defenseman Logan Stanley told Newsday. “You’re going to be in tight games all year in the third period.
It comes back to playing connected as five guys. When we’re doing that all over the ice with our forecheck, in the defensive zone, then we look good.”
Sorokin’s numbers back up the eye test. He is 6-4-2 with a 2.57 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage. The Islanders did not practice Wednesday, but Tuesday’s skate in San Jose suggested he would get a third straight start.
The bigger picture around Sorokin is impossible to ignore. Last season, he finished second in Vezina Trophy voting after going 29-24-2 with a 2.68 GAA and a .906 save percentage, even as the Islanders missed the playoffs for the second straight year.
He led the league in high-danger saves with 452 and posted a .864 high-danger save percentage. He also finished second in Vezina voting in 2023, and the Islanders still have not won a playoff round since 2021.
That makes the concern obvious: the Islanders may be burning through some of the best years of a 31-year-old goalie who is playing at a high level right now.
At the same time, Sorokin is not an aging veteran at the end of the road. He is in the third season of an eight-year, $66 million contract, and general manager Mathieu Darche has time to build a stronger group in front of him.
Sorokin, though, isn’t spending much energy on that bigger-picture debate. In a private chat with Newsday after Tuesday’s practice, he described his current form in plain terms, saying he is tracking pucks through traffic, controlling rebounds and reading backdoor plays and cross-ice passes well.
“I feel like always, nothing special,” Sorokin said. “I just play period by period and try to do what I can do.”
He also said he would rather face fewer shots than he has in his last two starts, even if more work can help him settle in.
“You’re always in shape,” Sorokin said. “When you have a lot of shots, you’re always in the game. For me, I like it when it’s less shots, like 15 or 17 for the game.
“But you should play. You never can choose what type of game it is and you should be ready for everything. But, yeah, maybe I feel a little better, maybe a little more confident when I have more shots.”
Sorokin can have that confidence. The Islanders need to match it with results.
In Other News...
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Matias Maccelli, Ryan Pulock and Mat Barzal all practiced as regulars on Wednesday, a sign that the roster picture is getting closer to full strength. J-G Pageau took a maintenance day, adding another small wrinkle to a group that is already heading toward some difficult decisions, with the kind of lineup pressure that can ripple through the rest of the trip and beyond. [Read more 🡒]
Islanders Suddenly Face A Bigger Problem Than Just A Losing Streak
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Captain Bo Horvat and DeBoer have both pointed to the same issue: the Islanders are no longer playing with the detail that made them effective. Turnovers have crept in, defensive lapses have followed, and the clean, organized style that was supposed to define this group has been harder to find. The next step is obvious enough, but getting back to it is the challenge as the Islanders try to steady themselves in the games ahead. [Read more 🡒]
Islanders Are Suddenly Tied To A Flyers Situation Worth Watching
A Flyers situation that surfaced late last night has naturally caught the attention of teams around the league, including the Islanders, even if nothing has moved beyond the rumor stage. Matvei Michkov remains viewed in Philadelphia as a central piece of the rebuild, and as of early last night the Flyers had not received a formal trade request from the young forward. There also have been no confirmed trade talks, which keeps this firmly in the realm of something to monitor rather than something already in motion.
Still, the mere possibility is enough to put the Islanders on the list of clubs worth watching here. Any team that might pry loose a player with Michkovs ceiling would have to come prepared with real value, and Philadelphia is not in a hurry to entertain the idea. For now, the story is less about an active market than about whether interest around the league eventually turns into something more concrete. [Read more 🡒]