Don’t blame the Islanders for not having an appealing No. 3 goalie it’s the other way around, really
On the ice from Long Island
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Check out more newslettersTEMPE, Ariz. A word here in defense of the Islanders, who have been catching criticism due to their lack of organizational goaltending depth in the wake of Semyon Varlamovs injury Tuesday night in Colorado.
The situation in which the Isles now find themselves, with a proverbial Sword of Damocles hanging over the franchise if Ilya Sorokin gets hurt over what will be an extended period of playing time if Varlamov does not return soon, is far from ideal.
It is also not avoidable by having a slightly better third option than Ken Appleby waiting in the American League.
This is clear because the Islanders did have a slightly better third option in AHL Bridgeport each of the last two seasons. Each of those seasons included a stint when Varlamov was out. And the Islanders used Cory Schneider in a total of one NHL game the second end of a back-to-back after they were completely out of the race in April 2022.
The interest in deploying Schneider in a game that had any meaning was below zero. The Isles opted to use Sorokin in back-to-backs not once but twice Oct. 23-24, 2021 and Dec. 16-17, 2022 in order to avoid doing so (ironically, both of those instances were in Arizona and Las Vegas, the same cities in which the Islanders finish out their current road trip on Thursday and Saturday).
Criticism for not signing someone such as Keith Kinkaid or Louie Domingue in the offseason, when both were free agents, is a bit much in that context.
4Ken Appleby was called up from Bridgeport to potentially play behind Ilya Sorokin should Semyon Varlamov be sidelined. Getty ImagesWould the Islanders seriously be that much better off right now with Kinkaid, who has played just 18 NHL games since the start of the 2020-21 season? What about Domingue, who has not started more than two NHL games in a season since 2019-20?
The most you could say is that if Varlamov is out for, say, the rest of the season, it would be nice to have someone like that to start a few games.
But lets play out that hypothetical.
The Islanders would still be facing the same situation, in which a Sorokin injury would be disastrous. They would still be riding Sorokin hard for as long as Varlamov was hurt.
The difference would be, at best, minimal. And at worst, the Isles would get a reminder of why players such as Kinkaid and Domingue have not stuck in the NHL.
Reality is that goaltending right now is at a premium league-wide. The Islanders, by having two high-end netminders on their roster, have, in fact, put themselves in a far better situation than most other teams.
Just ask the Hurricanes or Devils or Blue Jackets, all of whom reside in the same division as the Islanders. Going into play on Wednesday, there were 19(!) teams with a collective save percentage under .900.
How many of those teams have two trusted NHL goaltenders, let alone three? How many teams have three goaltenders you would trust on any given night?
4The Islanders have one of the better save percentages in the NHL, thanks in part to Semyon Varmalov’s 14 games of backup work in goal. APBy Evolving Hockeys count, there are just 50 goalies leaguewide this season with a positive goals saved above expected. That is a math problem in a 32-team NHL.
The Islanders sit at a .908 save percentage collectively, despite a defense that has bled high-danger chances. Sorokin, in what has been universally considered a down year, has saved 10.36 goals above expected, per Evolving Hockey.
All things considered, having both him and Varlamov is reasonably good insurance in case one or the other is injured.
Of course it is not perfect. But perfect does not exist when you are talking about a goaltender getting hurt.
What to watch for in Arizona
Im curious whether Matt Martin gets inserted back into the lineup after the Isles didnt show much physicality against Colorado on Tuesday. Lane Lambert seemed to point toward that after the game as a reason the Islanders struggled to move the puck through the neutral zone, and Martin is the person on the roster who could have gotten into a fight or delivered a hit to spark the group.
4Matt Martin may find his way back into the lineup after Lane Lambert complained about the Islanders’ lack of physicality. Robert Sabo for the NY Post Would you believe the Islanders are tied for the third-fewest penalty minutes in the league on a per-game basis? Given how many times this season theyve negated their own power play or taken an untimely penalty, its shocking. Whatever you think of the officiating on Tuesday, the Islanders need to start translating that discipline to all situations. They might have stolen a second point in Colorado if they had erased one of their third-period penalties. Arizona, by the way, is right behind the Isles in power-play conversion rate at 22.88 percent, 11th in the league.
Traditionally, this is a stop on the circuit where two points is expected. That is not necessarily the case this year. The Coyotes are 19-15-2, including a 12-6-0 mark at home. However, this does represent the Isles best chance for a win on this four-game trip after they squandered opportunities in Colorado and Pittsburgh. A stop in Vegas on Saturday figures to be an uphill climb.
Now would be a very (very, very, very, very) good time for Adam Pelech to rejoin the lineup with the Islanders down a goalie and another defenseman in Robert Bortuzzo.
Want to catch a game? The Islanders schedule with links to buy tickets can be found here.
Bounce back
4Pierre Engvall made a good impression on Lane Lambert with a goal in his first game since being a healthy scratch in Pittsburgh. Getty ImagesPierre Engvalls goal on Tuesday in his first game after being a healthy scratch normally would have been a headline, but so much else happened in the 5-4 loss to Colorado that it was relegated to a footnote.
Still, a solid performance from a motivated Engvall.
I thought he skated, thought he competed, I thought he was better, Lambert said. He has to do that consistently.
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