RALEIGH, N.C. — Patrick Roy didn’t make a big deal out of naming his starter for Saturday’s Game 1 against the Hurricanes. If you’ve been watching the Islanders during their closing 10-2-1 run, there really wasn’t a choice at all.
“As of now,” Roy said on Friday, “we’re going with Varly.”
Semyon Varlamov was the clear backup for the majority of this season, as he was last season. Varlamov, 36, handled the drop from being the No. 1 in his first two years on the Island — when he backstopped consecutive runs to the semifinals — with ease and not much drop off in his game. Ilya Sorokin made 55 starts this season after making 60 in 2022-23, but his game slipped over the final two months.
Since the All-Star break, Sorokin was a league-average goalie, saving less than a goal more than expected. Varlamov saved over six goals more than expected in that same span; during the closing run, when Varlamov made eight starts and won seven, he was fourth in the league in GSAx.
Sorokin, who improved over the backstretch and won three of his last four starts, was also good in the closing kick. But Varlamov gets the call, with Sorokin waiting in the wings.
Back in the 2021 postseason, Sorokin was a surprise Game 1 starter against the Penguins in the first round, with Varlamov nursing a minor injury. In his first NHL season and after making 21 starts to Varlamov’s 35 in the COVID-shortened season, Sorokin led the Isles to a Game 1 win in overtime in Pittsburgh. Varlamov returned and lost Games 2 and 3; Barry Trotz went back to the then-25-year-old Sorokin, who backstopped three straight wins as the Isles eliminated the Penguins.
After a bad Game 1 loss against the Bruins in the second round, Varlamov stepped in and led the way to Game 7 of the semifinals against the Lightning.
So these two goalies have been through the “hot hand” playoff scenario before. And Varlamov is clearly the fresher goalie, even at 36. Sorokin faced the most shot attempts, shots on goal and high-danger chances through the first five months of the regular season and it seemed to take a toll during a personal six-game losing streak in March.
Noah Dobson ‘should’ be back for Game 1
Noah Dobson practiced fully for the Islanders and was deemed ready to go by Roy. Dobson left the 3-2 overtime win over the Canadiens on April 11 just a few minutes in after what looked like a minor collision behind his own net. The Islanders were definitely not just being cautious with Dobson, who finished the season seventh in scoring among defensemen with 10-60-70, the first 70-point defenseman for the Islanders since Denis Potvin in 1984-85. The team needed him in the lineup over the final three games (at least two of the three, since they clinched with a win over the Devils in game No. 81), so this was no slam dunk that he’d be back for Saturday.
Dobson skated on his own a couple of times before joining Friday’s practice. Roy said all the regulars who were held out of Wednesday’s finale — Mathew Barzal, Pierre Engvall and Hudson Fasching — are available as well.
Pageau day to day
It’s not all good news though. J-G Pageau, who left midway through the 5-4 win over the Penguins on Wednesday, was absent from practice and deemed day to day by Roy with a lower-body injury.
Pageau has, like much of the team, had some real dry spells this season and he finished with 33 points. But his work centering Anders Lee and Engvall over the closing stretch gave Roy a solid third line and allowed the coach to shift Casey Cizikas out of the bottom six.
The Islanders only moved two players around in Pageau’s absence, putting rookie Kyle MacLean between Lee and Engvall while having career winger Cal Clutterbuck centering Matt Martin and Simon Holmstrom.
With the Canes owning the last change at home the first two games, it’s hard to imagine Roy would stick with a Martin-Clutterbuck-Holmstrom fourth line if the Canes continually matched up to get their potent top line of Jake Guentzel, Sebastian Aho and Seth Jarvis out there. The likelier move would be to put Cizikas back in Pageau’s spot, drop MacLean back into the fourth-line center spot and move up one of Lee, Engvall or Holmstrom to play with Bo Horvat and Barzal.
Carolina will be without Jesper Fast for at least Game 1. Fast, who scored the Game 2 overtime winner in last spring’s Canes-Islanders first-round series, left Carolina’s regular season finale and won’t play until he can get a practice in, according to Rod Brind’Amour.
(Photo: Andrew Mordzynski / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
