Ilya Sorokin out for Islanders as Marcus Hogberg starts vs. Rangers
New York Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin last month at UBS Arena. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Ilya Sorokin isn't available for the Islanders’ final match against the rival Rangers on Thursday night at UBS Arena, and pending the result and potential imminent playoff elimination, it’s not clear whether the team will even need its No. 1 goalie over the remaining four regular-season games and instead just let backup Marcus Hogberg hold the net.
“I just take it day by day and I’m just focused on the Rangers today,” said Hogberg, who gets the start with Tristan Lennox, a third-round pick in 2021 who has yet to appear in an NHL game, serving as his backup after being brought up from the Islanders’ AHL affiliate in Bridgeport on emergency recall.
But coach Patrick Roy wanted to make one thing very clear: Sorokin’s current injury, now listed as a lower-body issue, has nothing to do with the back surgery he required prior to this season.
Sorokin exited from Tuesday night’s 7-6 overtime loss in Nashville after 40 minutes having been hurt when 6-6, 232-pound Michael McCarron fell over the goalie while scoring the Predators’ fourth goal at 13:25 of the second period. Roy said immediately after the game Sorokin had been taken out for precautionary reasons with an upper-body issue.
“After the game I said it was an upper body,” Roy said after Thursday’s morning skate. “But after seeing a doctor it has nothing to do with what happened during the summer with his back. It’s a lower-body injury.”
Roy was then asked if Sorokin would sit the rest of the season.
“That I could not tell," he said. "Dr. Roy does not have the answer on this one.”
Sorokin, who has been relied on heavily since Semyon Varlamov was sidelined for the season with a lower-body injury on Nov. 29, is 29-23-6 with a 2.75 goals-against average and .905 save percentage in 59 appearances, three short of matching his career high. He compiled those statistics despite missing the bulk of training camp — he didn’t rejoin his teammates on ice until Oct. 2 — and not playing in any of the six preseason games.
“Ilya has been tremendous all year,” defenseman Noah Dobson said. “Coming off a season where he didn’t participate in training camp. It just shows how talented and gifted he is and the work he puts in on and off the ice. Marcus has played great for us as well. We know Ilya is a big part of the team. But we’ve got a lot of trust and faith in Marcus.”
The 6-5, 234-pound Hogberg, who spent the previous three seasons playing at home in Sweden following his first NHL tenure with the Senators, entered Thursday with a 2-4-2 record, 2.62 GAA and .907 save percentage.
He allowed three goals on nine shots after relieving Sorokin against the Predators and stopped 24 shots in his previous start, a 6-4 loss in Carolina on March 30. Roy, asked after that game about the Islanders’ defensive structure, replied, “Maybe start with a couple of saves.”
“It’s been good but maybe too many goals,” Hogberg said when asked to assess his performance. “Today’s a new game and I’ll focus on what I can do out there and just play my game.
“I’m feeling good. I think I’ve been practicing pretty good and I’ve gotten myself ready when I get the opportunity.”
Hogberg added he wants to “have fun out there and enjoy playing.”
Notes & quotes: Roy kept his lineup intact from the fairly wacky, certainly defensively disorganized, loss to the Predators. That meant defensemen Mike Reilly, Adam Boqvist and Scott Perunovich remained healthy scratches and Scott Mayfield remained in the lineup. Roy acknowledged he was looking for continuity in the lineup. “Yes, stability,” Roy said. “I know we have nine defensemen here, it’s tough for the three guys that are not playing. I won’t lie, giving up seven goals against Nashville, it’s hard for me to say we had a great defensive game. At the same time, I thought these guys have played well overall…” Top-six forward Anthony Duclair (leave of absence) missed his fourth game . . . The Islanders, who lost their first three games to the Rangers, have not been swept in the season series since the Rangers won all six games in 2003-04.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
