There are sayings in sports like “practice makes perfect” and “you play like you practice”.
For the Islanders, having a great practice doesn’t necessarily mean they will always win the next time they step on the ice for a game, but they almost always get better as a team in practice because of their last line of defense. With goalies Ilya Sorokin and Semyon Varlamov between the pipes at the team’s Northwell Health Ice Center practice facility, it always presents a challenge for the Islanders but it also makes them better against their opponents.
“Yeah, when your confidence is getting crushed every day,” joked Islanders Captain Anders Lee before turning to a serious tone.
“You can learn a lot from shooting on goalies like this at this caliber. You really have to fine-tune your setup and where you’re placing it. You have to find those holes if you can and when they’re harder and harder to find against your two goalies you see every day, it makes you better too.”
The Islanders have won a lot of games over the last four years with Sorokin and Varlamov in front of the cage and that includes a lot of post-season victories. The Isles are happy to have that duo in place and locked up long-term, but the team’s top players would also like to find the back of the net a little more in practice.
“I would say it’s fun and then there’s times in practice when you’re like alright I want to score a couple of more,” chuckled Islanders forward Brock Nelson.
“They obviously make us better,” said Islanders forward Mat Barzal. “We’re lucky to have both of them. They work hard in practice. That’s the best thing about our goalies is that they take extra shots and they take breakaways after drills. That goes a long way.”
During a practice, the Islanders go through a series of very structured drills along with work at 5-on-5 as well as power play/penalty killing. When there’s a scoring chance, there are many times that the offensive unit has done everything right and the puck doesn’t go in the net.
Many times, it’s because of Sorokin and Varlamov and that helps the Islanders in the long run.
“I think it makes our players better for sure,” said Islanders head coach Lane Lambert. “Anytime you’re practicing and the quality of practice and the level of practice and the level of players in the practice is high…the compete level…all of that stuff makes you better. That’s how you get better as a hockey team and from there, the games become more natural.”
In Sorokin and Varlamov, the Islanders have one of the best goaltender tandems in the National Hockey League.
Last season, Sorokin finished second in Vezina Trophy voting for best goalie in the NHL. He had a record of 31 wins, 22 losses and 7 overtime/shootout losses with a goals against average of 2.34 and 6 shutouts. During the off-season, he was rewarded with an 8-year contract extension worth $66 million.
Varlamov, re-signed to a new 4-year $11 million contract over the summer, appeared in 23 games last season with a record of 11-9-2 and a goals against average of 2.70.
When the Islanders hit the ice for a game, they know they have a great chance to come away with two points.
“It’s definitely nice,” said Nelson. “Those two guys work extremely hard to be at the level they’re at as some of the best in the league so for us to have those guys to give us a chance is huge and it also makes us better in practice.”
Even if the 18 skaters are not on their “A” game on a particular day or night, whoever is in goal for that game still gives the Islanders the opportunity to steal a win. That’s how important Sorokin and Varlamov are to the Islanders’ chances of competing for a Stanley Cup.
They can change the outcome of a game or even a playoff series.
“They’re the backbone of our team,” said Barzal. “If we keep things to the outside and don’t give up a lot of “grade a’s”, we know that they’re not letting in too many.”
The tandem of Sorokin and Varlamov is a luxury so many other teams would love to have. It’s like having top-notch insurance policy or a really comfortable security blanket.
“It's one less thing to worry about,” said Lee. “These guys have been walls back there for a long time and if we take care of business in front of them, we should be in a good spot.”
The Islanders feel that they have a roster that is not only capable of securing an Eastern Conference playoff spot for the fifth time in six seasons but also one that can compete for a Stanley Cup. With Ilya Sorokin as the number one goalie and Semyon Varlamov as the backup, the Islanders will be in position to win a lot of games this season.