Islanders, Rangers and Devils have vastly different goaltending situations midway through the season
NEW YORK (AP) — Ilya Sorokin was spotless in his return to the net Tuesday night, 24 hours after good friend Igor Shesterkin went down with an injury that looked like it could be serious. Across the ice from Sorokin, Jacob Markstrom gave up goals on the first two shots he faced and could not make a save when needed on the way to allowing nine of them.
Early in the New Year and just past the midway point of the NHL season, the three teams in the New York area are in very different spots when it comes to goaltending, and that contrast could portend how things go the rest of the way with a tight playoff race shaping up in the Eastern Conference.
Getting Sorokin back is a boon for the Islanders, who have won five of their past seven games to keep pace with first-place Carolina. Sorokin was sharp with no signs of rust shutting out New Jersey, sliding side to side looking like there were zero ill effects from the nagging lower-body injury that kept him out since Dec. 19.
“I was a little nervous because of not playing in two weeks and feel a little bit not in my game in the first couple minutes,” Sorokin said after the 9-0 rout made him the Islanders’ career shutout leader with 26. “But after shot by shot, I start to feel confidence.”
But this is nothing new for the franchise netminder on Long Island. Since the Islanders abruptly switched goalie coaches from Pierre Greco to Sergei Naumovs on Oct. 22, Sorokin has a 2.15 goals-against average and a .926 save percentage.
“He’s just so solid,” teammate Mat Barzal said. “He doesn’t take a second off, that guy, honestly. He works as hard as anybody I’ve ever seen, day in day off, off days, practice. Whatever it is, he’s the last guy at the rink, and he’s inspiring.”
Shesterkin has been one of the biggest reason the Rangers have stayed afloat while losing 14 of their first 19 home games and struggled at times to score. His 17 wins rank third in the league, his .913 save percentage eighth and his 2.45 goals-against average 12th.
But they won’t have him available for at least the next week after putting Shesterkin on injured reserve with what the club called a lower-body injury. Shesterkin appeared to injure his left leg when it bent awkwardly while trying to avoid a collision with Utah’s JJ Peterka in the first period Monday night, and he put no weight on it while being helped off the ice.
Shesterkin continues to be evaluated, and the Rangers cannot afford a long stretch without him and top defenseman Adam Fox, who’s out at least the next 10 games on long-term IR.
The Devils recently got their best player back from injury, when Jack Hughes returned Dec. 21 after missing a little over a month following finger surgery from cutting his right hand at a team dinner. They outshot the Islanders 44-24, including 15-7 in the first period, but Markstrom could not keep the puck out of his net.
Barzal’s goal 62 seconds in would have been tough for anyone to stop, but Markstrom also got beaten clean off the rush twice by Anthony Duclair, who picked up his first hat trick in more than six years. Markstrom allowed nine goals on 24shots in a dud of a performance that put a damper on some strong starts lately.
“I didn’t like the quality of chance that we had given up, and Marky has been playing quite well for us and I thought deserved the opportunity to stay in through the first period and decided to go back out with him again in the second,” coach Sheldon Keefe said. “Once that next one goes in, for me now, it’s just got to own it. He’s just got to battle through the rest of the game.”
___
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL