Sorokin stands tall for Islanders in Game 5 of Eastern 1st Round
Makes 34 saves against Hurricanes to extend New York's season
With the Islanders facing elimination, Sorokin helped keep their season alive with 34 saves in a 3-2 victory against the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 5 at PNC Arena on Tuesday.
"He's special. He really is," Islanders forward Mathew Barzal said. "He's been our backbone all year. You look at the most important players in the League to their own teams, I think he's in the top three or five players in the League. So, all year for us he has been our backbone, like I said, and we wouldn't be here if he wasn't playing the way he has been."
New York isn't out of the woods yet, still trailing 3-2 in the best-of-7 series, but it forced a Game 6 at home Friday and gained some confidence that it can come back and win the series. Sorokin is a big reason for that belief.
The Islanders appeared to have an advantage in goaltending heading into the series with Sorokin, who was 31-22-7, with a 2.34 goals-against average, .924 save percentage, and a League-leading six shutouts during the regular season. Though the 27-year-old played well for the most part in losing three of the first four games, compiling a 2.96 GAA and .917 save percentage, he hadn't differentiated himself from Hurricanes goalie Antti Raanta, who was 3-1 with a 2.46 GAA and .915 save percentage.
If Sorokin felt any pressure to elevate his play, he didn't show it.
"I can't try to do nothing new," he said. "I believe in my game, my system and our system, so just step by step."
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Still, it was clear from the drop of the puck that Sorokin was locked in. With a chance to eliminate the Islanders with a win at home, the Hurricanes made an early push, forcing Sorokin to make three saves in the opening 1:45, including one off his mask on Jesper Fast's shot from the right circle at 1:15.
By the end of the first period, New York was being outshot 11-5 but led 1-0 on Pierre Engvall's goal at 10:27.
"They come out hard in this building," Islanders coach Lane Lambert said. "We knew they were going to come out hard and we knew he'd have to make a few saves, and he did, and that allowed us to get the first goal, so that was a critical point for us."
Brock Nelson increased the Islanders lead to 2-0 at 3:16 of the second period, but Sorokin seemed to sense he'd have a slim margin for error and did not let up. When Stefan Noesen set up Seth Jarvis for a backdoor chance at right post with the Hurricanes on the power play at 6:58, Sorokin slid to his left to make the save.
Carolina scored a power-play goal on the same play, with Noesen setting up Martin Necas in the second period of their 5-2 win in Game 4 on Sunday, but this time Sorokin was ready for it.
"The last game it [was the] same goal, so today I was lucky he made a shot into [the] glove," Sorokin said. "So today, luck on my side."
It was more than luck, though. The Hurricanes controlled play for much of the game, outshooting the Islanders 36-22 and building a 76-41 advantage in shot attempts, but Sorokin was up to the challenge.
"Every time I look back at him, he seems like he's locked in. No different tonight," Islanders captain Anders Lee said. "But some phenomenal saves having to get left to right and tracking the puck. He doesn't give a lot of options out there to shoot the puck and see any holes, so great effort from him."
Sorokin had no chance on Paul Stastny's deflection between his pads that pulled Carolina within 2-1 at 13:10. But Barzal put New York up 3-1 on a 2-on-1 at 18:05, giving Sorokin a two-goal cushion to work with heading into the third.
The situation became more stressful when Sebastian Aho beat Sorokin over the glove from the right circle at 10:28 of the third period. Sorokin and the Islanders buckled down after that, and his teammates helped by blocking a series-high 22 shots. He did the rest.
Sorokin only had to make two saves after the Hurricanes pulled Raanta for an extra attacker with 2:38 left, including one with his glove on Shayne Gostisbehere's one-timer from the right point with 55 seconds remaining.
"I thought there was no, I guess for lack of a better term, panic in our game," Lambert said. "We just made sure we stuck to our plan, and we knew we'd need a couple saves going home, and certainly we did that, and I thought we just played pretty steady and pretty solid and battled."
