Ilya Sorokin must make the most of his limited playing time to get more work.
The highly-touted Russian rookie goalie certainly did in his fourth NHL start, making 20 saves for his first career win and shutout as the Islanders swept a two-game series in Buffalo with a 3-0 victory on Tuesday night.
The Islanders (8-4-3) extended their point streak to eight games (5-0-3) and their winning streak to three despite an overall sloppy performance over the final 50 minutes.
The Sabres were much crisper in their second game after resuming their season with Monday’s 3-1 loss to the Islanders after COVID-19 issues shut them down for two weeks. Defenseman Jake McCabe returned to the lineup for the Sabres, who have just Casey Mittelstadt remaining on the NHL’s COVID protocol list.
But Sorokin, who had 43 shutouts in his five All-Star seasons in the KHL before joining the Islanders in August, was the difference.
Sorokin’s shutout was preserved when coach Barry Trotz successfully challenged Jack Eichel was offside on Victor Olofsson’s apparent power-play goal at 13:01 of the third period.
Finding playing time for Sorokin has been difficult with Semyon Varlamov clearly established as the Islanders’ No. 1 goalie and points are at even more of a premium in this shortened 56-game season that started without any preseason games.
Sorokin’s previous game was a 25-save performance in a 4-3 overtime loss in Philadelphia on Jan. 31. That also came on the second day of back-to-back games against the same opponent.
Sorokin got no goal support in his first two starts. He lost 5-0 to the Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 16 after Varlamov, the intended starter, was injured in pre-game warmups, and stopped 22 shots in a 2-0 defeat to the Devils on Jan. 24 that started an 0-3-2 road trip.
Sorokin, selected in the third round in 2014, finally joined the Islanders in the playoff bubbles in Toronto and Edmonton, though he was ineligible to play in the postseason.
"It’s been very difficult for Ilya to get any games," Trotz said before the game. "He’s coming to a new environment in terms of style of play that’s the NHL versus the KHL. If he’s in, he’s got to have a real good performance."
Sorokin is clearly getting more comfortable with each opportunity, though he didn’t face many shots through the first two periods.
The Sabres outskated the Islanders and had much more offensive zone time after falling behind 2-0 in the first period. But Sorokin faced just three shots in the second period and none on a shift when the Islanders were hemmed in their zone for two minutes, nine seconds.
Tuesday’s first period was a near carbon copy of Monday’s, with captain Anders Lee and Jean-Gabriel Pageau scoring to give the Islanders a two-goal lead backed by strong goaltending. Lee also scored a buzzer-beating empty-net goal.
Lee redirected defenseman Noah Dobson’s feed from the right to make it 1-0 at 4:43 that represented the first time Sorokin has played with the lead in the NHL. Pageau then extended his goal streak to four games — with five goals in that span — with a wrist shot from the left that beat Carter Hutton (21 saves) past his glove.
Sorokin stopped Tage Thompson’s in-tight backhander at 10:09 and Taylor Hall’s backhander as he got free to the crease at 12:21 among his nine first-period saves. In the third period, he made a sweeping glove save at 7:50 after Olofsson cut to toward the right post, then slid to his right to deny Sam Reinhart’s backdoor chance at 10:33.
