When things have come apart for the Islanders, they have really come apart.
A 6-3 loss in Carolina. A 5-1 loss at Florida. A blown lead at Nashville, and another one at Minnesota.
Sunday’s 5-2 loss exemplified the issues. The Islanders led 2-1 in the third period, momentum on their side after Anders Lee scored twice in his homecoming. Then they were outshot 16-2 in the period, blowing the lead and giving up two empty-net goals to boot.
“We seem to, when we do give them up, we give them up, I’ll say in bulk form,” coach Barry Trotz said. “We don’t just get one, we get two or three. Cut that out a little bit. A lot of times, it’s not necessarily [on] the group. There’s been more of an individual decision-making, one decision, two decisions, three decisions that are the wrong decision. So we gotta correct that on a few guys.”
The Islanders have outperformed their expected goals differential by about 8.5 percent thus far, per Natural Stat Trick, a number that has mostly come down to Ilya Sorokin’s play in net.
The defense in front of him?
“I think we’re gonna get in rhythm,” Trotz said. “The more rhythm we get into, the better.”
Some of that may come down to chemistry on defensive pairings that the Islanders switched up early in the season. Zdeno Chara and Ryan Pulock, for example, did not play together during camp — the plan was for Pulock and Adam Pelech to be the top pairing — and have struggled thus far.
Breaking up Pelech and Pulock has served to spread the Islanders’ depth throughout the lineup, perhaps a necessity given that Chara, Andy Greene and Noah Dobson all started slowly. But it has its drawbacks.
“It takes a little bit to get comfortable,” Pulock said of playing opposite Chara. “Cause we never really did anything together in training camp or anything. But now I think we’re getting a good feel for each other and trying to keep building our game together and get better every day.”
That said, Pulock was positive about the defense as a whole.
“I think when you look at our defensive game, it’s kind of a five-man unit,” he said. “I think right now, our defensive game has been good. I think guys are in the right spots. We have forwards tracking back, which allows us to stay up. I think there’s just good communication down low with the defensemen and forwards.”
Everything is made much easier by Sorokin’s play, and Semyon Varlamov’s return. With Varlamov hurt, Sorokin came out on fire, posting three shutouts in nine games with a .939 save percentage.
Trotz credited the acclimation process, saying the Isles brought the Russian along slowly to get him used to the demands of the NHL.
“Varly was getting two [games], he was getting one,” Trotz said. “And then as we went deeper in, we were splitting them. And whoever got sort of hot, whoever was the right match for a certain team, we went with those guys. That’s been our philosophy.”
Above all, the Islanders didn’t want to force things. Now, it’s Sorokin who’s doing just that. Asked about the No. 1 goaltender spot — a mostly honorific position given the two figure to split time — Trotz didn’t tip his hand.
“I think Ilya’s been a number one,” Trotz said. “Varly’s been a number one.”
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