Welcome to the brand new period of Rangers versus Islanders: Igor versus Ilya.
Thursday’s gem of a St. Patrick’s Day recreation, a 2-1 Islanders victory, was not the primary time New York’s pair of star Russian goaltenders confronted off. Nevertheless it was the primary time they did so on Broadway, the primary time they did so in entrance of a full home, and the primary time they made it depend.
“This could possibly be, you have a look at the [Sidney] Crosby/[Alexander] Ovechkin factor, possibly it’s an Ilya/Igor factor,” Islanders coach Barry Trotz mentioned Thursday morning.
That was earlier than Ilya Sorokin turned in a 29-save effort that — beginning with a highlight-reel paddle save on Artemi Panarin about 5 minutes into the sport, falling backwards to his proper to cease a one-timer from the left circle — received the sport for the Islanders.
Of that exact second, Trotz mentioned: “Holy,” then mouthed a four-letter phrase. “Sure. It may need been probably the greatest, if not the perfect save I’ve seen in a very long time. And I’ve been round a very long time.”
Mathew Barzal mentioned: “I imply, are you kidding me?”
Anders Lee mentioned: “It was unbelievable. You could possibly even hear the entire crowd clap for that one after the replay.”
It was solely the start of the present.
Quickly, Sorokin was making a pad save on Chris Kreider from the slot then stoning him on a breakaway. He stopped a Filip Chytil one-timer on the doorstep in between and the 18,006 on the Backyard who ought to have been watching a romp however as a substitute walked right into a coming-out social gathering had been stupefied.
To not be outdone, Igor Shesterkin got here up with a pair moments of his personal, notably a pair of third-period stops on Noah Dobson and Oliver Wahlstrom that ignited the group. The spotlight reel, although, was Sorokin’s alone. So was the win.
The ultimate rating was Islanders 2, Rangers 1. Extra precisely, it was Sorokin 29, Shesterkin 26. If it’s the primary spotlight in a protracted rivalry, it's a hell of one.
“We all know that Igor Shesterkin has been getting a whole lot of hype within the Hart [Trophy] dialog and whatnot,” Barzal mentioned. “However we all know that we've two guys [Sorokin and Semyon Varlamov] that each night time give us probability.”
Thursday, that translated to a fourth Islanders win in 5 video games, a fifth straight recreation with factors and the membership getting above NHL-.500 for the primary time since late January.
It shouldn't be the final time we see Sorokin and Shesterkin going at it like this.
Each goaltenders are 26. Each hail from Russia. Each determine to be with their respective golf equipment for fairly a while. In accordance with Trotz, the 2 are good pals, although neither spoke to reporters on Thursday to supply affirmation.
This might flip into one thing fairly enjoyable.
“They had been each nice,” Rangers coach Gerard Gallant mentioned. “They each made some actual good saves, and [Sorokin] was excellent.”
Thursday, they had been worthy of one another. It’s only one recreation. However, you may hope, it’ll be considered one of many.
“They’re simply beginning out,” Trotz mentioned. “And it’s fairly thrilling for the sport of hockey and for this space, particularly.”
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