Following the Islanders’ overtime loss to the Panthers on Tuesday night, yet another game in which Ilya Sorokin kept the team afloat with his play in net, coach Barry Trotz was asked whether he sees the goaltender getting stronger after starting five straight games.

Though the defense has struggled over that period, often putting Sorokin in a tough position, he has turned aside 181 of 195 shots — a 92.8 save percentage that’s a tenth of a percentage higher than his season-long mark.

“I don’t see him getting stronger at all,” Trotz said. “I see him being the same. Good. Very good, actually.”

Following the first of those five games, a 5-4 shootout win over the Penguins in which Sorokin recorded 43 saves, Zach Parise compared him to Martin Brodeur and Trotz compared him to Pekka Rinne. Following the third, a 3-0 win over Montreal in which Sorokin saved 44 of 44, Mathew Barzal said he deserves consideration for the Vezina Trophy.

The question all year about Sorokin, who has alternated starts with Semyon Varlamov when both have been healthy, has not been related to talent, but workload. This recent stretch, when Varlamov has missed time with a stomach bug, isn’t the only one in which Trotz has been forced to play Sorokin for an extended period. Varlamov was out at the beginning of the season with an injury and was stranded in Calgary with COVID-19 in February. But this is the period during which the question has been answered most emphatically.

“We’ve thrown a couple things at him, not on purpose,” Trotz said. “He’s dealt with it very, very well.”

That is instructive for how the Islanders might handle the future.

“I think there hasn’t been enough Vezina talk, even with the season we’ve had,” Barzal told reporters last week. “I think he’s very deserving of that.”

Undoubtedly, the Vezina will go to the Rangers’ Igor Shesterkin. Sorokin is second in the league in save percentage and goals saved above average, and fourth in goals against average. Shesterkin, though, leads all three categories.

And though Shesterkin, after Tuesday, had started just one more game than Sorokin, the Rangers are devoting less than half the cap hit to their backup, Alexandar Georgiev, as the Islanders are to Varlamov.

General manager Lou Lamoriello didn’t seem to have much interest in moving Varlamov at last month’s trade deadline, though he presumably could have drawn interest. However, if Sorokin is capable of starting well over 50 games and playing at his current level next season (he’s at 49 this year with six games left), then it would become almost irresponsible to keep Varlamov on the payroll with a cap hit of $5 million.

There’s value to having two good goaltenders to pick from, and Varlamov has been a major help to Sorokin as he has adjusted to playing in North America. But the Islanders will need to devote resources to their back end over the summer, and that money has to come from somewhere.

Noah Dobson is hitting restricted free agency and will likely command a major raise after establishing himself as a 40-point, 20-minute-per-game, top-four defensemen. A quick scan of defensemen who have produced similarly at this point in their careers under the current collective bargaining agreement pegs Dobson’s approximate value at $4.5 million or thereabouts.

The right side for the Islanders will be set once they take care of that, with Ryan Pulock, Scott Mayfield and Dobson a formidable trio. On the left, though, the deals for Zdeno Chara, Andy Greene and Sebastian Aho all will expire, and the team could use an upgrade.

Robin Salo could fit if the organization has belief in the 23-year-old, though he is also a restricted free agent this summer. But if you pencil Salo in for one of two open slots — Ryan Pulock being on the top pair — there’s still another to fill. At a certain point, doing so comes down to dollars and sense.

Varlamov, even as he hits 34, will be an asset. If Sorokin is ready to take on a bigger workload, then Varlamov might be an asset not worth keeping.