How far can elite goaltending take you in the modern NHL? The Islanders look like a lab experiment set up to answer the question.
The last two Stanley Cup champions won titles with Darcy Kuemper and Adin Hill in nets for the final.
Bo Horvat and Pierre Engvall, acquired in January and February of last season, respectively, will be around from the jump.Mathew Barzal, who missed the last 23 games of the regular season with injury, is healthy and playing alongside Horvat on the top line. It is not hyperbolic to suggest Sorokin was the difference between the Islanders being in the playoffs and being a lottery team.But whatever the Islanders do this season will, more likely than not, come down to just how good Sorokin can be.At five-on-five, the combination of Barzal and Horvat should provide the sort of play-driving ability the Islanders have spent years looking for.
The top-six on opening night will be exactly the same as it was most of last season, with the Islanders depending on improvement from Dobson and Romanov, plus a healthy Adam Pelech, to account for improvement. In a perfect world, the Islanders would split their starts at something more like 52-30 than the 60-22 they did last year and keep Sorokin fresher for the postseason, but it’s not clear whether that will be possible.He got the Islanders through serious adversity in the form of Barzal’s injury to make the playoffs against the odds.
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