Fight to the end
Emotional win in Pittsburgh follows Barzal injury news; another Sorokin save of the year candidate
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Good Morning, Islanders Country.
That was a gutsy and scrappy win by the boys.
When news broke that Mathew Barzal was ‘out-indefinitely’ with a lower-body injury, a portion of the fanbase was ready to write off this season. Some always thought they should be sellers; for others, the injury news pushed them over the edge. But a significant segment simply said to keep playing the games and see what happens.
Instead of the Isles being clear sellers by the time the deadline comes on Mar. 3, maybe they’d surprise you. For one night, they did precisely that. With a makeshift lineup of AHL call-ups and fourth-liners playing on scoring lines, the Isles found a way to stick around long enough for their big players to come up big.
But no one came up as huge as Ilya Sorokin.
The Isles goaltender was blitzed in the first period but only allowed one goal on 19 shots. Then late in the second, Sorokin made his latest ridiculous highlight reel save, sticking out the paddle to rob Kris Letang to keep it a one-goal game. Sorokin has won all three games against Pittsburgh this season, stopping 105 of 112 shots for a .957 save percentage.
Whether it was the second-period scrum or the reality that everyone had to step up with Barzal out of the line-up collectively, it was a fully committed effort by the Islanders in the third period. It’s the way they’ll have to play, in every period, for the rest of the season.
There are four more games until the trade deadline, and if Barzal is truly week-to-week, performances and results like this will likely make GM Lou Lamoriello stand pat or consider adding rather than trade the two/three assets he has that can return meaningful draft picks.
"That's what you're going to see the rest of the way here," Islanders captain Anders Lee said after the game. "Say whatever you want about us, but we're going to battle, and we're going to fight to the end on all this."
We saw it for one night. Now we have to see it again.
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