Islanders switch goalies, still lose Game 3 to Hurricanes

ELMONT, N.Y. -- Patrick Roy, the man who defined goaltending as a player for a generation by almost never making a mistake in his crease, made a bold goaltending move as the coach of the New York Islanders on Thursday.

He switched his goalies before Game 3 of the Eastern Conference First Round against the Carolina Hurricanes, starting Ilya Sorokin and sitting Semyon Varlamov, who allowed six goals in the first two games, each a loss on the road.

It didn’t work, and the Islanders lost 3-2 at UBS Arena, falling into a 3-0 hole in the best-of-7 series.

Four teams in the history of the Stanley Cup Playoffs have won a best-of-7 series after losing the first three games. That’s the task before the Islanders now, and it begins here in Game 4 on Saturday (2 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, MSGSN, TBS, BSSO, SN, TVAS).

Roy, who won the Stanley Cup four times as a player and was named playoff MVP three times during his career with the Montreal Canadiens and Colorado Avalanche, wouldn’t comment specifically on the play of Sorokin, though he had professed confidence in him after announcing the decision after practice Wednesday and argued Sorokin was entering the series at a perfect time.

“I'm going to say this: We win and lose as a team,” Roy said after the game. “So I'm not going to go there. But what I'm going to say is sometimes we make changes as a coach because we feel we just wanted to change the momentum of the game.”

Sorokin did not speak to the media after allowing three goals on 14 shots in the first 27:14, the Islanders falling behind 2-0 and 3-1.

Each goal came from distance.

Defenseman Brent Burns used traffic to beat Sorokin at 4:46 of the first period a few feet behind the right face-off circle. Defenseman Dmitry Orlov scored from high in the left circle at 10:25, ending a streak of 33 Stanley Cup Playoff games without a goal and scoring his first in the postseason since 2018 with the Washington Capitals.

Forward Sebastian Aho ended Sorokin’s night -- and maybe the Islanders' playoff hopes -- with a midrange shot that beat the Islanders goalie to the short side after he seemed to lose his positioning.

Sorokin was unable to stop the bleeding that started with Varlamov in goal for a disastrous Game 2, when the Islanders allowed five goals in the final 27 minutes to turn a three-goal lead into a disheartening 5-3 loss.

The Islanders had never lost a playoff game in which they had led by three goals.

After the Aho goal Thursday, Roy looked to his left and called for Varlamov, who ambled onto the ice, passing Sorokin as he trudged the bench, fighting a tidal wave of emotions.

“Sometimes, you just want to change the momentum of the game,” Roy said. “It was a 3-1 game and I thought we were playing well, and I just wanted to get some energy."

Varlamov felt for Sorokin, his friend and goalie partner, in that moment. It’s never easy to get pulled, especially in a season-defining game. Sorokin appeared gutted. He stormed down the tunnel to the dressing room before returning and leaning dejectedly against the tunnel wall, his mask still on, his head bowed.

The two goalies did not speak in that moment, or after the game before Varlamov met the media.

“It’s part of the job,” said Varlamov, who stopped each of the eight shots he faced. “There’s nothing to say.”

Varlamov was good in each of the first two games but said he accepted the decision by Roy to turn to Sorokin to try to change New York's fortunes.

“He’s our head coach,” Varlamov said. “We have to respect any decisions they make as a staff about the lineups and then about the way we are going to play. That’s what we do in this locker room, we respect any decision they are making for us.”

The Islanders got the game to 3-2 when Brock Nelson slammed home a deflection off the body of teammate Kyle Palmieri with 2:21 remaining in the second.

But they could not find the equalizer against Carolina goalie Frederik Andersen, who stopped 29 of 31 shots.

As he has done through the first three games, Andersen made the saves when necessary. He stopped each of the 11 shots he faced in the third, including a highlight-reel glove save on defenseman Alexander Romanov with 5:45 remaining.

“It’s definitely a disappointment,” said Islanders defenseman Noah Dobson, who was robbed for the second straight game by the glove of Andersen. “We fell behind early, but we were resilient and got ourselves back in the game. We had plenty of chances in the third to get things tied up and we fell one short. It’s disappointing for sure.”

The Islanders don’t have much time to think about their predicament.

Game 4 looms in less than two days.

“I believe in the group we are bringing into Saturday,” Dobson said. “It starts with one [win] and then go from there. We have to move past this. We can’t do anything about it now.”