Islanders' Sorokin Finding His Game in a Big Way

Early on in this year's NHL campaign, there is no doubt that New York Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin was struggling.

Sorokin, 30, was allowing a lot of goals, was not coming up with timely saves, and was losing games that he should have helped the team win. He looked nowhere near like the goaltender he was in his first few seasons in the NHL when he was one of the best goaltenders in the league.

Do not look now, but it appears that Sorokin is beginning to change the narrative for himself this season. After looking like a shell of himself for the first month and a half, he looks like the "old" Sorokin, and for the Islanders, it has only meant good things.

As of this writing (Tuesday, December 9), Sorokin is 10-8-0-2 with a 2.47 goals-against average, a .912 save percentage, and three shutouts. Thanks to his turnaround, he is now third in the league in shutouts, 15th in the league in save percentage, seventh in the league in saves, and 13th in the league in goals-against average.

There are a few reasons why Sorokin was able to find his game. For starters, he has gone back to being consistent between the pipes.

Here is what he has done in his last three games:

- December 2 vs. the Tampa Bay Lightning: Stopped 30 of 31 shots and got the win (.968 save percentage)
- December 4 vs. the Colorado Avalanche: Stopped 35 of 38 shots and got the win (.921 save percentage)
- December 6 vs. the Lightning: Stopped all 32 shots he faced in a shutout win (1.000 save percentage)

For his terrific and consistent performance in goal over those three games, the league awarded him the first star of the week for the period ending December 7. Sorokin stopped stopped 97 of the 101 shots he faced for a .960 save percentage and a 1.33 goals-against average during the week, which was outstanding for both himself and his team.

Another reason why Sorokin is playing so well is because he is focusing on the basics. He is controlling his rebounds, playing the angles well, challenging shooters, and not getting caught out of position.

In speaking with reporters regarding Sorokin's strong play, Islanders head coach Patrick Roy credited the team's new goalie coach, Sergei Naumovs, as one of the reasons why Sorokin has been playing so well as of late.

There’s a lot of trust in the two of them,” Roy said. “Every time I look at them, it reminds me of the relationship I had with François [Allaire] when I was in Montreal. It means a lot for a goalie to have a connection with your goalie coach, and that’s exactly what’s going on right now for him.

Roy also told reporters how Naumovs has helped Sorokin focus on the simple things and that because of that, it has helped lead to bigger performances out on the ice.

I think they’re just working on basics,” Roy explained. “Little things turn into bigger things. He looks very confident out there, and I think it’s a buildup of doing good things and having it transfer.

Lastly, it is apparent that Sorokin is playing with a lot of confidence right now. When Sorokin is on his game, he does not let anything bother him and he is always focused on stopping the next shot rather than on dwelling on what happened on the last play.

He is also probably playing with a lot of confidence because Roy is showing confidence in him. In speaking to reporters after the Islanders shut out the Lightning on Saturday December 6, Roy praised Sorokin's play, something that was not always the case during the last two seasons.

He was outstanding,” New York coach Patrick Roy said. “What I love is that he makes it look pretty easy, and that's great goaltending. I mean, nice work. I remember myself. If everything looked easy, I knew I was [going to have] a good game. I thought that's what Ilya was.

Thanks to Sorokin's tremendous play between the pipes, the Islanders were able to climb the standings in a big way. They are currently third in the Metropolitan Division, third in the Eastern Conference, and ninth in the NHL with a record of 16-11-3 for 35 points.

For the Islanders to continue this upward trajectory, they will need to continue to have Sorokin at his very best. With the way he is playing right now, there is no reason why Sorokin should not be able to keep up his steady play.