Dec 2, 2023; Sunrise, Florida, USA; New York Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin (30) makes a save on the shot from Florida Panthers center Evan Rodrigues (17) during the first period at Amerant Bank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
Ilya Sorokin is facing an inordinate amount of shots this season.
The New York Islanders goaltender was peppered once again on Saturday evening in Sunrise, FL, turning away 42 of 45 shots in a 4-3 victory over the Panthers — his team’s stabilizing fifth win in its last seven games after an early seven-game losing streak.
But workload has been significant and borderline historic for the 28-year-old, whose numbers are understandably down following a 2022-23 season in which he finished second for the Vezina Trophy voting.
“If there’s one thing, I’d like to cut down the shot total a little bit,” Islanders head coach Lane Lambert said following Saturday’s win over the Panthers (h/t Islanders official site). “But there’s a tremendous amount of commitment and a tremendous amount of battle.”
Since facing just 14 shots in his second start of the season against the Arizona Coyotes on Oct. 17, Sorokin has faced 30 or more shots in each of his last 13 starts. Ten of those have featured more than 35 shots faced and five have seen him stare down 40 or more.
He’s often been left out to dry by a team that has had difficulties closing out games in the third period. While his save percentage has only gone down one-hundredth of a point (.924 to .914), his goals-against average has ballooned from 2.34 last year to 3.09.
There’s an obvious correlation in the danger that he’s faced. This year, he’s facing an average of 36.5 shots per game — 6.7 of them of the high-danger variety during 5-on-5 play. Last season, he faced 29.6 shots per game, a significant difference although it carried a similar 6.9 high-danger even-strength shots against.
“You can look at the shot total and go, ‘oh boy,’ but how…
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