Sorokin Earns Sixth Iron Man Mask as Islanders Blank Blue Jackets 1-0

Ilya Sorokin was a brick wall as the New York Islanders shut out the Columbus Blue Jackets 1-0 at UBS Arena. 

Sorokin stopped all 26 Columbus shots, including 13 in the third period to earn his league-leading seventh shutout of the season, the game’s first star and his sixth Iron Man mask as the Islanders player of the game in the win.  

“He’s so solid,” Anders Lee said after the game. “I thought he saw a lot of pucks through screens. It's a [defensive core] that looks for sticks really well, [and] I'm sure you noticed in the third period we're in the shot lane as wingers, but when they throw it six feet past us and it gets tipped, that's just a hell of a play to defend. They had some great high tips tonight and [Sorokin] found those.”

Sorokin’s seven shutouts match the single-season team record set by Chico Resch in 1976, Semyon Varlamov in 2021 and himself in 2022. The 30-year-old is the only netminder in Islanders history to reach seven shutouts in multiple seasons.  

“Longevity is probably the first word I'm thinking about when you break records,” Head Coach Patrick Roy said.  “Obviously [Sorokin] has been solid for us and [has] been playing really good hockey. There's a lot of good goaltenders that [have played] for the Islanders, I mean Billy Smith, Chico Resch and those guys, so it's always an honor for any of our players.”  

Sorokin started in net on Saturday against the Montreal Canadiens yet was tasked with starting between the pipes in the Sunday night bounce back victory. The shutout in the second half of the back-to-back where he started both games was the third shutout in that situation.  

“After yesterday’s game, it’s important [to] continue to do what I [have done] all season,” Sorokin said after the win. “I try to play simple [and the] guys played behind me very well [and] we played very disciplined.” 

The New York goaltender is 26-17-2 with a 2.53 GAA, .913 SV% and seven shutouts in 45 games and ranks within the top-10 among goalies across the NHL in each of those categories this season. 

Mathew Barzal was the most recent Iron Man mask recipient before Sorokin.