OTTAWA — Between Ilya Sorokin and the Islanders defense, coach Patrick Roy was not going to point the finger at his goalie on Saturday.
“We gave [them] so many chances,” Roy said after the Islanders beat the Senators 5-4. “We gotta be better in front of him.”
Undoubtedly, that was true on an afternoon where the Islanders were lucky to escape Ottawa with two points in hand given how poorly they played in their own zone and on the backcheck.
Sorokin, however, was also well below par in allowing four goals for the fourth time this season, including a short-side shot from David Perron that trickled through his legs in the first period.
After Sorokin gave up a similar goal to Winnipeg’s Logan Stanley last Monday, the Islanders sat him for a game and Roy made an exception to his rule of not working with goaltenders to try and help Sorokin’s confidence.
While Sorokin did stop Shane Pinto’s penalty shot, a key turning point in the game, he still looked far from his usual self for most of Saturday. None of Ottawa’s four goals came with significant traffic in front; two came on breakaways and the third on Pinto’s rocket from above the left circle — all good chances, but all stoppable too.
“Today, I feel good [in] all three periods,” Sorokin said. “Again, small, little bit moments — it’s a goal in my net. [It] is what it is. Today, I feel good and the team blocked shots and helped me.”
That is a much more optimistic self-diagnosis than Sorokin offered after his last start, so the Islanders can at least take solace that his confidence is in a better place.
They won’t be able to breathe easily about the goaltending situation, though, until Sorokin is putting forth the sort of 60-minute efforts that have seen him placed amongst the NHL’s elite goaltenders over the last few seasons.
The proof of how confident the Islanders truly are that such performances are coming soon will come in how they handle the split between Sorokin and David Rittich this upcoming week, with two days off before Tuesday’s home game against San Jose.
Matthew Schaefer extended his season-opening points streak to five games, recording an assist on Max Shabanov’s second-period goal. Schaefer’s maternal grandparents made the 12-hour drive from Sault Ste. Marie to attend the game.
Alexander Romanov missed the game with an upper-body injury, with Adam Boqvist playing for the first time this season in relief.
Kyle MacLean got a second straight game in the lineup, with Max Tsyplakov remaining a healthy scratch.
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