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Greg Wyshynski, ESPN
ELMONT, NY — New York Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin got the start in Game 3 as a rested goalie seeking to give his team a fresh start after trailing the Carolina Hurricanes 2-0 in their opening round series.
But things turned rotten quickly for Sorokin. He gave up 3 goals on 14 shots before he was pulled 7:14 into the second period. Semyon Varlamov, who started the first two games of the series, stopped all eight shots he faced in relief, but it wasn’t enough: The Hurricanes defeated the Islanders, 3-2, as New York faces elimination on Saturday afternoon at UBS Arena.
Coach Patrick Roy, who made the decision to start Sorokin, refused to directly address his goalie’s performance in Game 3.
“I’m going to say this: We win and we lose as a team. 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 want to change the momentum in the game. I’ll leave it at that,” said Roy, who had a Hall of Fame career as an NHL goaltender.
When asked how getting pulled could impact Sorokin’s confidence, Roy deflected again.
“Right now I’m focusing more on the team than focusing on our goalie,” he said.
Varlamov started the Islanders’ first two playoff games in Raleigh, posting a .905 save percentage and a 3.03 goals-against average. He gave up six goals on 63 shots. That included two goals in the span of nine seconds in Game 2, as the Hurricanes tied and took the lead in shocking fashion during the third period.
Roy justified making the goalie change because Varlamov faced 39 shots in Game 2 and because the Islanders intended to use both goalies in the postseason.
Varlamov said that he respected Roy’s decision to bench him for Game 3, even after he was called into action following Sorokin’s removal in the second period.
“I trust Patrick on the decisions he makes,” said Varlamov. “He’s a head coach. We have to respect any decisions they make as a coaching staff.”
Sorokin, 28, got the majority of starts this season, appearing in 56 games to Varlamov’s 28 games played. But Varlamov, 35, won 7 of his last 8 starts to lead the Islanders to a playoff berth in April, and earned the crease to start the playoffs.
Carolina scored against Sorokin just 4:46 into Game 3, as a Brent Burns shot deflected off an Islanders defender’s stick. Defenseman Dmitry Orlov made it 2-0 at 10:25, on a shot that Sorokin could get over fast enough to stop.
After Peter Engvall cut the lead to 2-1 at 2:48 of the second period, Carolina’s Sebastian Aho beat Sorokin on another stoppable shot to make it 3-1 at 7:14 of the second period. Roy signaled to Varlamov that he was replacing Sorokin.
After being pulled, Sorokin stood in the hallway to the dressing room, hunched over with his mask still on, looking devastated.
“It’s the game. Anything could happen. It’s not the first time,” said Varlamov of his friend and teammate Sorokin. “I mean, what are you going to do? You have to move on and then forget about it and then just get ready for the next game.”
After finishing second in the Vezina Trophy voting for the NHL’s best goaltender last season, Sorokin posted his worst save percentage (.908) and goals-against average (3.01) of his four-season NHL career. He begins an 8-year, $66-million contract extension next season for the Islanders, who did not make him available for postgame comments.
Before Game 3, Roy recalled how his goaltending coach with the Montreal Canadiens described Roy and backup goalie Brian Hayward as different kinds of automobiles.
“Hayward was a Cadillac. He was comfortable. I was the Ferrari. I could be a little more bumpy,” said Roy, who then applied the analogy to the Islanders. “We had the Cadillac in the first two games, and now we’re going with the Ferrari.”
Unfortunately for the Islanders, they experienced engine failure in Game 3, as the Hurricanes took control of the series.