Islanders' playoff hopes hinge on Ilya Sorokin's play

If the Islanders have a playoff run in them, then Ilya Sorokin’s burden will be even greater than it has already become.

After the team’s postseason hopes received CPR over the course of 12 hours on Monday, going from despair at the news of Mat Barzal being week-to-week with a lower-body injury to delight at a 4-2 comeback win over the Penguins, the Isles occupied the first wild-card spot in the standings on Tuesday morning. But with six teams in the race separated by five points, hanging onto it will not be easy, especially with Barzal not expected to return soon.

The Isles were already leaning heavily on Sorokin, who for his part has responded with an All-Star campaign, but the spotlight on the goaltender is magnified now, with one of the best offensive players out on a team ranked 18th in the league in scoring. In their two comeback wins over Pittsburgh on Thursday and Monday, Sorokin made the difference, stopping 40 and 44 shots, respectively, as Casey DeSmith and Tristan Jarry both struggled in nets for the Penguins.

That went double on Monday as Sorokin made a series of game-changing stops, including a jaw-dropping save to bat a puck that looked as though it was headed into an open net out of the air with his paddle.

There was also his stoning of Teddy Blueger on a one-on-none breakaway at the start of the third, along with a string of saves with the Penguins skating at six-on-five, in full desperation mode before Brock Nelson’s empty-net goal sealed it. And 18 first-period saves when the ice seemed tilted against the Islanders.

“The goaltending is always gonna be a constant and great for us and we know that,” Zach Parise said Monday night. “Tonight he was outstanding in a game that we needed to win. In a game that, we just got news we’re gonna be without Mat, he was outstanding.”

Sorokin, a Vezina Trophy favorite earlier in the season, has slipped to third in the betting odds at +550 with Boston’s Linus Ullmark holding a prohibitive lead at -200. Sorokin, though, leads the league in games played (43) and shutouts (five) with a .924 save percentage and 31.2 goals saved above expected, per MoneyPuck.

He also might be in line to get a run of consecutive starts after Semyon Varlamov struggled in a 6-2 loss on Saturday in Boston. The Islanders don’t play back-to-back games again until March 14-15 in Los Angeles and Anaheim, and have a series of four-point games in the week leading up to that trip. Sorokin started eight games straight earlier this season when Varlamov got hurt.

And as for the Vezina race, Sorokin will have two games over the next week to prove himself against the player currently between him and Ullmark in the betting odds, with Connor Hellebuyck and the Jets visiting UBS Arena on Wednesday before the return match in Winnipeg on Sunday.

At this point, the Islanders are pretty much used to Sorokin’s heroics. New arrival Bo Horvat, who hadn’t played much against Sorokin with the Canucks before getting traded to the Islanders, sounded on Monday like he was still trying to wrap his head around them.

“His ability to make saves at key times and his flexibility, his poise, he just never gets flustered it seems like,” Horvat said. “He’s a rock back there. We’re lucky to have him.”

If there is a formula to making the playoffs minus Barzal, this is it. Sorokin just might be good enough to carry the Islanders into the tournament.

Certainly, he’s good enough to give them a fighting chance.