By admin 
It’s the goalkeepers, stupid.
The Islanders can and should worry about their special teams and how their defense is constructed and whether their offense can hold up without it Matt Barzal And Anthony Duclair and all the details within each of those buckets. That’s all well and good, and it all matters a lot.
But let’s talk about the heart of the matter here. Staying in the playoff race from now until whenever the Islanders get healthy is about Ilya Sorokin and Semyon Varlamov. And as bad as everything else looked, there’s not really much to worry about on that front.
Ilya Sorokin is pictured during the Islanders’ game against the Penguins on November 5. Robert Sabo for NY Post Semyon Varlamov is pictured during the Islanders’ game against the Panthers on October 26. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST
Especially when the season started, about four weeks ago, the biggest question hanging over the Islanders was Sorokin. There was his off-season back surgery; there were his struggles down the stretch and in the playoffs last season; there was his eight-year contractwho would immediately become an albatross if he did not recover properly.
That all went away pretty quickly.
Heading into Thursday night’s game in Ottawa, where Varlamov was expected to start for the first time since last Wednesday’s loss in Columbus, Sorokin had compiled a .921 save percentage and 2.35 GAA through his first eight starts. That matches almost exactly the .924 save percentage and 2.34 GAA he had in 2022-23, when the Islanders made the playoffs almost entirely because of how well Sorokin played — including during the late season when Barzal made the play- took offs. injured.
Then it was about the goalkeepers. Now it’s about the goalkeepers.
“He is one of the best goalkeepers in the sport,” none other than Patrick Roy said of Sorokin last week.
There’s a little more room for concern about Varlamov, who entered Thursday with an .876 save percentage and a negative 1.93 goals above expectation rate, according to Evolving Hockey, through his first five starts. The plan at the start of the season was to split starts evenly between the two, not least due to the belief that playing almost every night had a negative effect on Sorokin over time.
That plan already showed cracks when Sorokin started three games in a row prior to Thursday. It’s going straight into the dustbin if he continues to beat his counterpart by such a wide margin.
Patrick Roy and the Islanders have already had to deal with a lot of injuries this season. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST
However, Varlamov’s history tells us that this is probably a minor anomaly rather than something we should be seriously concerned about. Through his first five seasons on the island, all of which were over the age of 30, Varlamov had a .917 save percentage and was as steady as they come.
It is to the credit of both Roy and the Islanders that they do not allow themselves to collapse every night in the same way as under Lane Lambert. Although Roy rightly admitted on Tuesday that they would probably give up more shots and chances without Alexander Romanov, Mike Reilly and Adam Pelech in the crease, the Islanders have done a better job of keeping the opposition out and limiting opportunities since he took over as head coach.
Ilya Sorokin is pictured at the Islanders’ game against the Rangers on November 3. JASON SZENES/NEW YORK POST
Even if the goalkeepers have to be relied on, that cannot be the explicit strategy or mentality in the dressing room. The other 21 guys have no control over how the goalies play, but they can have a say in how easy it is for them on an evening basis. The 3.47 goals saved above expectations by Sorokin – good but not near the top of the league – have more to do with the Islanders’ success in their own zone than anything Sorokin doesn’t do compared to a few years ago.
So the goalies may not be the only thing, and the parallels between Sorokin and first-era Jacob deGrom are indeed concerning. But they are the most important thing.
The reality right now is that the Islanders are missing two of their most skilled offensive players and rank 31st in the league per game. The reality is that the entire left side of their defense is injured and there will be a drop-off as a result. The reality is that they need wins now after a poor first ten games of the season and even at best they won’t have a fully healthy lineup until after they return home from a five-game trip to Western Canada and Detroit in two weeks.
The reality is that whatever happens between now and then is about the goalkeepers.