It was only right that the NHL announced Ilya Sorokin would be an All-Star just as the third period of the Islanders-Sabres game Thursday was in its waning moments. There might be no other game this season that so perfectly encapsulates both what Sorokin has done for the Islanders and what the team has failed to do for him.

In the 3-2 overtime loss to Buffalo, Sorokin essentially kept the Islanders in the game all on his own. He stopped 12 high-danger shots, made 42 total saves and built a highlight reel over 60 minutes. The Islanders had a 1-0 lead after a first period in which they were out-chanced 20-5. They got a point in a game in which the expected goals count read 4.51 to 2.72. That’s all Sorokin.

The All-Star nod is undoubtedly deserved, and the votes he’ll eventually get for the Vezina Trophy will be, too. As the Islanders have turned the page into disaster this month, Sorokin has been the only thing keeping them in the playoff race. Since Dec. 17, Sorokin has started 13 games — all but two — and has a .934 save percentage. The Islanders, in those games, are 5-4-4, simply unable to back up what might be the best goaltending in the league.

If the Islanders fail to make the playoffs, it may well cost Sorokin the Vezina. Not that anyone would expect him to care.

Following the game Thursday, Sorokin said he made the KHL All-Star Game five times while in Russia. Then he said he couldn’t remember the format of that event.

Asked about spending All-Star weekend with Igor Shesterkin, his close friend and one of the selections from the Rangers, Sorokin said: “I don’t think about this. Thanks again for our fans who vote for me. So that’s it.”

Sorokin’s demeanor is one of total focus.

“He obviously deserves it,” Matt Martin said, upon learning Sorokin made the All-Star team. “He’s one of the top goaltenders in the league and we’re very fortunate to have him here.

“Tonight was more of the same that we’ve seen all season. Just steady in net. When we do have breakdowns, he generally swallows them up for us and makes it look easy when he does it. We’re blessed to not only have him but two goalies back there [Sorokin and Semyon Varlamov] who cover up for our mistakes as often as they do.”

Sorokin has played 35 games, tied for the league lead among goaltenders, and has saved 24.1 goals above expected, per MoneyPuck. That amounts to .725 expected goals per 60 minutes that Sorokin has erased, an accounting which seems to understate his impact.

Lately, it has felt as though the 27-year-old Russian is the only thing standing between the Islanders and the Connor Bedard sweepstakes. That they still have a chance at the playoffs, glum as that chance may seem on the heels of seven losses in eight games, is a testament to just how strong their goaltending has been.

“He’s probably the most deserving, especially,” Brock Nelson, the Islanders’ other selection for All-Star weekend, said Thursday. “Especially I think a night like tonight just proves his worth, his value to us. He gives us a chance if we’re not at our best to still win games. Well-deserved for him.”

It’s a chance the Islanders have far too often failed to make the most of. The loss Thursday wasn’t quite so frustrating as home losses to Boston or Washington earlier in the week, but that is damning it with faint praise.

The Islanders have the sort of goaltending that most teams would kill to get.

They just seem to take advantage of it.