Islanders: Ilya Sorokin Shines On National Stage

Three games into his NHL career, people were ready to call Ilya Sorokin a bust. Yes, I’m serious, after a 0-2-1 start with 11 goals and a .871 save percentage the reaction from *some* of Islanders twitter was a tad of an overreaction.

Since that bumpy start, Ilya Sorokin has been nothing but stellar. Over his next 14 starts, he’s had a .934 save percentage and three shutouts, so much for that bust status.

Last night was a special display from Sorokin, and it was arguably his best game of his young NHL career. Sure, he’s had two shutouts already before and some other big-time performances but this one was different.

Against the Philadelphia Flyers, a team fighting for their playoff lives, with 30 shots against, and most importantly on a National stage he stole the game for New York. The rest of the NHL, and their fans, were put on notice by Ilya Sorokin last night.

In the second period alone, Sorokin faced 15 shots and at 5v5 Sorokin faced eight high danger chances on the game according to Natural Stat Trick. Now, on the season he’s up to a .922 save percentage and a 2.02 goals against average.

With goalies who have 10 or more starts, Sorokin’s .922 save percentage is tied for fifth in the league and his 2.02 goals against average is third in the league. It took 17 games for Sorokin to figure out the NHL.

Just think about that for a second. It was a bit of a rocky start, and at times even during his hot streak, he was prone to giving up rebounds too big. All it took was 17 games at the NHL level to get that right.

He’s as good as advertised and the hype is real when it comes to Ilya Sorokin. If he remains healthy, there’s a chance that he can be a very, very good goalie for this team for a long time.

For the third year in a row, the Islanders have an elite goalie duo. Barry Trotz and Mitch Korn continue to be absolute geniuses when it comes to play in net, and Ilya Sorokin will reap the benefits.