Ilya Sorokin and Patrick Roy alike brushed off Sorokin’s mistake playing the puck on Sunday after the Islanders lost 4-1 to the Capitals.
Sorokin, who stopped 14 of 16 shots before Washington scored two empty-net goals, played the puck into the slot but did not see Tom Wilson, who deposited it into the net at 13:58 of the second before Sorokin could recover his position.
Though playing the puck is one of few areas in which Sorokin is not always comfortable, this is the first time Sorokin has made such a mistake leading to a goal in, at least, years.
“Just one bad decision,” Sorokin told The Post. “I think I should play simple, play it around the boards. That’s it.”
Roy, a Hall of Fame goalie during his playing career, said he’d done the same thing numerous times.
“I was pretty good at turnovers,” he said. “It happens. I love the way the guys reacted. They wanted to get that one back.”
Given how Sorokin has bailed the Islanders out with regularity across recent seasons, there was understandably no blame directed his way in the dressing room.
“He gives us a chance to win every single time he’s in net,” Adam Pelech said. “He’s rock solid back there for us. We definitely wanted to pick him up there. Unfortunately, couldn’t find the back of the net.”
Without Kyle Palmieri in the fold, the Islanders promoted Max Shabanov to the second line in his spot.
Anthony Duclair moved from the third line to the fourth while Max Tsyplakov reentered the lineup to play with Kyle MacLean and Casey Cizikas on the fourth line.
Tsyplakov’s 8:43 of ice was the lowest of all Islanders.
“Especially the fact that it’s two guys within, what, two weeks, [Alexander Romanov] and then now [Palmieri], very important players on our team,” Roy said. “There’s guys that, they’re really hard to replace. I don’t know if you could replace those guys. But again, it’s an opportunity for others to show something and take advantage of the situation.”
Marc Gatcomb was recalled from AHL Bridgeport to serve as the 13th forward.
Palmieri was placed on injured reserve.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
