Ilya Sorokin yet again the lone bright spot for Islanders

Another game another loss for the New York Islanders. That's eight losses in a row now for the Isles who are not anywhere near where they should be at this time of the season.

The Islanders lost the battle on the score sheet, and on the box score. They were second best in just about every single category imaginable.

Sure, they may not have been second best by much. The Penguins didn't "punk" the Isles in this 1-0 loss. But with eight straight losses each successive 'L' carries much more weight for fans.

New York Islander: Thank the Tsar's for Ilya Sorokin

The only bright spot in this game was the play of Ilya Sorokin. He stopped 29 of 30 shots two of those shots were breakaway attempts by Kasperi Kapanen and Sidney Crosby. And he stopped 1.5 expected goals against. If not for Ilya Sorokin this game is easily a rout with the Penguins leaving UBS with a 4-0 or 5-0 win.

Through the opening few minutes of the game Sorokin had to stand on his head to keep his still asleep team in the game. A fact that I just can't comprehend.

How do the Islanders sleepwalk their way into this game? For a few weeks now we've all been craving a win, however small that win was, we needed it and bad. Today they got that "win" with Dobson coming off the COVID protocol list and with Josh Bailey rejoining practice. Both are at the very least emotional wins. Wins that seemingly meant nothing to the team.

How? Again, any win is something the Isles need to latch onto and ride it. Even if it's an emotional win instead of an actual NHL win.

Not awful

This game wasn't awful. Dobson had a good shift or two on the power play. Robin Salo looks to be rounding into form. And of course, Sororkin was his excellent self. But outside of that, this one was hard to watch.

Which, makes sense after all. They are missing a ton of NHL regulars:
1. Anders Lee (COVID)
2. Josh Bailey (COVID)
3. Adam Pelech (COVID)
4. Zdeno Chara (COVID)
5. Andy Greene (COVID)
6. Kieffer Bellows (COVID)
6. Brock Nelson (Injury)
7. Ryan Pulock (Injury)

The Islanders prospect pool wasn't very deep or talent laden to begin and we're seeing that now with some of the call ups. Again, nothing is going well for the Islanders who just need a win.

At least Ilya Sorokin is playing well.