Following a rare dominant victory for the Islanders on Thursday night, Jean-Gabriel Pageau did the same thing Islanders players have done all year, win or lose: throw credit Ilya Sorokin’s way.

“He saved a couple breakaways,” Pageau said. “He made a lot of key saves to keep us in the game. … He’s been outstanding for us.”

Sorokin’s play in net — a .925 save percentage, six shutouts and a 2.32 GAA — has been the closest thing the Islanders have to a steadying force. The 26-year old Russian, in his second year in the league, has emerged as a clear starter, and a player who looks like he’ll be in the net on Long Island for a long time.

Though the Islanders drafted Sorokin all the way back in 2014, his KHL status made it an open question as to when he would make the jump overseas. Finally, in 2020, when Sorokin was ready, he was ineligible to play in the NHL bubble. He came anyway, a decision that Islanders coach Barry Trotz views as key to his development.

“He got to see up close what playoff hockey was,” Trotz said. “He got to work on his English and work on friendships with a majority of these guys that he’s playing with.”

Coming from the KHL, the biggest adjustment for anyone tends to be the smaller rink size in North America. As a result, the play is quicker, with the puck getting turned over more often.

In Trotz’s estimation, it took Sorokin 10 or 12 starts into last season before he settled into things fully.

“Getting used to the traffic, the randomness of some of these chances that come at you and being able to connect the dots,” Trotz said. “I think he’s done a really good job of that with our goalie coaches [Piero Greco and Mitch Korn].”

Sorokin, who rarely speaks to media, is also helped by the presence of Semyon Varlamov, another Russian goaltender. The two have mostly split starts this season since Varlamov returned from injury, but Varlamov has been hampered by the Islanders’ abysmal scoring record in his starts.

“There’s no competition,” Trotz said. “He’s Ilya’s biggest fan when Ilya’s in the net and Ilya’s Varly’s biggest fan when they’re in the net and they go everywhere together. You see them on the road, they go for dinners together, you see them go for walks, whatever, they truly are friends.”

Sorokin’s ability was clear on Thursday night, when he made a key shorthanded save to stop Boone Jenner on a first period breakaway and kept the Blue Jackets out of the net when they went to the power play five different times throughout the game. 

He came away with a shutout in the 6-0 win, giving his teammates another game in which to laud their goaltender.

“The key moment for me in the whole game was Sorokin shorthanded in the first period,” Trotz said. “He made a great save and then they had a breakaway in the second period, he made another save. To me those were the key moments where they were still sniffing for something to get back in the game and we didn’t give it to them.”