The Islanders’ offense has been ugly this season.
Through 30 games, they’re 30th in the league in goals per game, 20th in expected goals percentage and 23rd in high danger chance percentage, per Natural Stat Trick. Even the stretches in which the offense has played better have come with games like Saturday’s, when chances were few and far between in a shutout loss to the Capitals.
Semyon Varlamov’s 34 saves kept that game competitive — a microcosm of the season.
“Varly gave us a great chance, great opportunity,” Anders Lee said afterward.
Both Varlamov and Ilya Sorokin, the Isles’ No. 1 netminder, have given them a chance to win despite being the team outplayed on a regular basis. Going into Monday’s game, the Isles have been outshot in 13 of 14 games — the lone exception being Jan. 1 against Edmonton — but had points in five of the last six.
That comes down to a lot of things, and shot total isn’t a perfect proxy for how a game is going. But the numbers are both alarming and an impressive reflection on both goaltenders.
“They’ve been fantastic back there,” defenseman Andy Greene said. “They’ve just been playing really well. They give us a lot of confidence. … It’s on us to give them some support there and make their nights as easy as possible, too.”
Semyon Varlamov (r.) congratulates teammate Ilya Sorokin after an Islanders’ win. APIt took Varlamov a while to get up to speed after he missed training camp and the first few weeks of the season with a lingering injury. But despite dealing with multiple two-week gaps between starts due to the Islanders’ schedule, the 33-year old has recorded 40, 36 and 34 saves in his last three games. Safe to say, he’s looking more like himself.
“I felt good today,” he said following Saturday’s game. “I gave up a goal in the first period and then after that, made some saves, got the confidence back.”
Sorokin showed a little more rust coming off the break, letting in a Yegor Sharangovich wrist shot off the rush against the Devils on Thursday that he would have normally expected to save easily. But he settled into that game and finished with 30 saves.
Sorokin’s .925 save percentage ranks sixth in the league headed into Monday, and he has 6.5 goals saved above expected, per MoneyPuck.
Varlamov’s play will be especially important over the next couple of weeks. The Islanders don’t have more than two consecutive days off until the All-Star break, and though the February schedule has yet to be announced, their schedule will likely be packed until the season ends — a product of having played fewer games than everyone else to this point.
They’ve been giving Sorokin and Varlamov each a healthy rotation anyway, but they won’t have a choice other than to keep doing so with so many games packed so tightly.
Of course, the Islanders would like to get some more offense, too — if they’re going to use the next few weeks to make a run, it won’t matter how well their goalies play if they continue to struggle scoring. But playing in front of someone who can keep them in games every night is a noted plus.
“Very confident,” associate coach Lane Lambert said of his goaltenders. “I think it’s a real advantage for us. Great situation for us to be in.
“We have a lot of games coming up. We’re gonna need both.”







