The Ferrari had a false start.
The Ferrari here is Ilya Sorokin. Thursday morning, Patrick Roy compared his goalkeepers to cars; Semyon Varlamov is a Cadillac, Sorokin is a Ferrari, he imagined, according to comments reported by the media on site in New York.
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Except that Sorokin, who had not played since April 17, did not exactly experience the departure of a Scuderia car. In other words, the strategy of changing goalkeepers, after two defeats in the first two duels, did not bear fruit. The Islanders lost 3-2 to the Carolina Hurricanes at home. They now trail 3-0 in the series.
PHOTO FRANK FRANKLIN II, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Ilya Sorokin was thwarted by a shot from Dmitry Orlov in the first period.
Of course, the Isles offered a much better offensive performance than Monday. But when your goalie allows two goals on six shots in the first ten minutes of play, let’s just say it’s difficult, especially in the playoffs, to get a different result.
Brent Burns, a regular at the spring dance, was the first to score with a completely ordinary shot from the point. The puck, however, deflected towards Mike Reilly in front of the goal. On this, Sorokin is not necessarily to blame.
A few minutes later, Andrei Svechnikov took advantage of a horrible turnover by the Islanders in the neutral zone to move into offensive territory. From the right flank, he easily spotted Dmitry Orlov at the top of the slot. Orlov got around Kyle Palmieri in front of him before firing to the near side. Sorokin appeared to misread the play unfolding in front of him. Goal, 2-0.
In the second period, the Islanders quickly reduced the lead through Pierre Engvall. Five minutes then passed before Sebastian Aho scored with a powerful wrist shot into the top of the net. Once again, on what was only the 14the shot by the Canes, Sorokin simply seemed absent.
Patrick Roy did not wait any longer: he recalled Sorokin to the bench and sent Varlamov, his trusted man for several weeks, into the fray. His troop reacted well; she tried everything in the second half of the match. Brock Nelson also scored at the end of the second period.
PHOTO FRANK FRANKLIN II, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Islanders head coach Patrick Roy during the post-game press conference
But on the other side of the ice, Frederik Andersen never really looked rattled. It was completely thanks to him that the Hurricanes held on in the third period; he received 11 shots, while his team only shot Varlamov three times.
Ultimately, the Islanders were never able to erase the poor performance of Sorokin, who is no shadow of the goaltender who was a finalist for the Vezina Trophy last year. Let us also remember that, starting next season, he will begin an eight-season, $66 million contract…
Late anger
No doubt, however: the Islanders played their best game of the series, even if the visceral anger was only really felt in the third period.
After three games, Anders Lee is the first pointer for the Long Island team with three points. It also means that Mathew Barzal, Noah Dobson and Bo Horvat have not yet found a way to get involved offensively.
These three players were part of the top 4 team points during the season. Between them, they shot 21 times on net in the game on Thursday, including nine times where the puck made it to the goalie. So it’s not for lack of trying, but they came up against Andersen.
If they want to avoid taking out their golf clubs, they’ll have to find a way to put the chain back on its holder in preparation for Saturday’s match, when they face elimination.
Over the past few days, Patrick Roy refused to get upset about the situation of his team, which had not yet lost a home match. Now it’s done. And few teams have managed to overcome a 0-3 deficit in the playoffs. In fact, only 4 of the 206 teams in this situation achieved the feat…
The task will be herculean.