ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Islanders being in the thick of a playoff race means that you can set your watch to Ilya Sorokin starting in nets just about every night.
Sunday, when Semyon Varlamov gave Sorokin the rare night off on the front end of a back-to-back, was a rare breaking of that rule and the first time Sorokin had sat in over two weeks.
And in stopping 22 of 23 shots in a clean 6-1 Islanders victory, Varlamov earned his first win since all the way back on Dec. 13, also against the Ducks.
“I think it’s been almost three months. It’s crazy,” Varlamov said. “Played games, it didn’t work out unfortunately for me. It’s a good feeling, a great feeling to win.
Ilya Sorokin #30 of the New York Islanders and Semyon Varlamov #40 celebrate their victory against the Anaheim Ducks. NHLI via Getty Images “When you sit and you don’t play, you’re thinking too much. And then when you get a chance to play, you just try to not put extra pressure on yourself. So I was able to do that today. Had a good start, made some saves, had a huge help, support from the team scoring-wise.”
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Privately, the Islanders have “a pretty good idea” of how the rotation between the two goalies will shake out for the rest of the season, coach Patrick Roy said, though that is always subject to change with injuries or based on who’s hot.
“I think you need to go with the feeling,” said Roy, an annual fixture to play over 60 games in goal during his own playing career. “You have to have a feeling. If Ilya’s starting to be tired, then it’s time for Varly to play more games. That’s what happened before the All-Star break. We played Varly two games in Montreal and Florida back-to-back.
“We have two very good goaltenders. There’s no reason for us not to be comfortable using one of them if we have to. Ilya’s playing very well right now. He forces us to play more games.”
Thanks in equal part to his limited playing time and an injury that kept him out for three weeks in January, Varlamov had gone so long without winning that he admitted it was in his head a little bit.
“It’s never easy [to turn that off],” he told The Post. “Just in your head till you get the win. We’re all humans and we’re all thinking, which is a normal thing. We all have feelings, we all care about the team and then the win and stuff. Of course I wanted to get this win as soon as I can.”
Now, he can rest easily.
Cal Clutterbuck’s goal at the 18:12 mark of the third meant that every single Islander has recorded a point during their current six-game winning streak.
