Islanders, Ilya Sorokin Against the History & The Hockey World on Sunday

Being a goalie is hard enough. Every game, you’re on an island, alone in your crease, controlling nothing but making saves. If you’re a visiting goaltender, you enter a building where everyone wants to see you fail.

When you do fail, a loud horn goes off, and a crowd of roughly 15,000 explodes with cheering and celebration. If you’re home, those 15,000 people depend on you to make a save and if you don’t, a deafening silence packed with disappointment commences. The sheer pressure from that is enough to drive a man crazy. Imagine that being your living?

It’s a sobering thought. Now, imagine yourself as Ilya Sorokin. An elite goaltender in the NHL on a team clinging to its slim playoff hopes. Every save feels massive. Each goal carries weight. Sorokin manages it well.

Tomorrow has to be no different. That may prove an impossible task. Sunday, the New York Islanders and Sorokin host the Washington Capitals and Alexander Ovechkin.

Last night, Ovechkin tied the all-time goal record set by Wayne Gretzky. Gretzky, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, and Ovechkin’s entire family are on the road following Ovi to each and every game. The hockey world is consumed by the coined term, “The Gr8 Chase!”

Ovechkin’s caught Gretzky. Now it’s time to pass him.

The Islanders and History:

It’s fitting, in a way, where this all may end. Gretzky’s 894th goal, the record for the last 26 years, who was it scored against? The New York Islanders. With Wade Flaherty in the net, Gretzky scored the game-winning goal with just 2:07 to go. That 894th goal scored against the Islanders, stood alone in the record books. All until now.

9,504 days and 1,357 weeks later, all that stands between a historical goal once scored against the Islanders is yet another goal against the Islanders. That took place in the Islanders’ 74th game of the season. This one will be game 76.

Everyone on the team knows it. Maxim Tsyplakov couldn’t hide his smile when I asked him about it last night. Smiling, the Russian rookie who surely grew up loving Ovechkin, said, “No comment. I don’t think about it. He’s the best. I don’t have words about him.”

Head Coach Patrick Roy, the Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender who Wayne Gretzky scored on just six times, played coy, and said “We’re going to focus on us. I mean, I know it’s going to be hard, but I mean, that’s what we have to do. I mean, it’s an important game for our team. And we’re going to continue to do exactly what we’ve been doing, focusing on the next game, and stay in the present moment and focus on us.”

Another fun stat: There are just 11 goaltenders in NHL history who both Ovechkin and Gretzky scored on. Of those 11, somehow, an improbable four of them played for the Islanders in their career (Kevin Weekes, Mike Dunham, Chris Osgood, and Garth Snow).

Sorokin vs The Hockey World:

History and “The Moment” is more than just against the Islanders on Sunday. It’s against Ilya Sorokin more than anyone in the world. Everybody watching wants to see that historical 895th goal on national television with the sports world glued to hockey. Tickets cost over $1,000. The demand to see greatness eclipses even fandom. In his home building, with his fans, Sorokin will have the crowd against him. They’ll be cheering for Ovechkin to score #895.

As for Sorokin, he does not want to think about Ovechkin. Even so, he admitted that it’s hard not to. “I don’t think about this because I know that everybody talks about this. I hear this from my friends for the last two months. So, I just want to focus on my game and we’ll see.”

Sorokin’s Russian. He grew up undoubtedly watching the early years of Ovechkin’s career much like Tsyplakov and any other Russian today. His influence there is massive. As Sorokin said, he hears it from back home all the time.

The pressure and weight of the moment is ginormous. As a human being, it’s got to be heavy. Crushing, even. Barring a surprise, Sorokin will start in net and have to tune out all the impossible noise by 12:30 in the afternoon. He and the Islanders have today off to rest before the puck drops tomorrow.

In his career, Sorokin has played the Capitals seven times. Not once has Ovechkin scored on him. Will that change on Sunday? If the hockey world and history have their way, it will.

Final Word on the Islanders And Historical Memories

History somehow finds the Islanders one way or another. Of arguably the four biggest faces of the game ever, all four have signature moments against the Islanders.

Gretzky, in addition to his historical 894th goal against the Islanders, ended the Islanders’ Dynasty in 1984 with a sweep in the Stanley Cup Final. The Islanders haven’t been back to the promised land ever since.

Mario Lemieux’s self-described most “emblematic goal of my career” came against the Islanders. In 2012, the Pittsburgh Penguins erected a statue of it. That statue stands outside PPG Paints Arena with Lemieux splitting Rich Pilon and Jeff Norton immortalized in bronze forever.

Twenty-three years later, in 2011, arguably Sidney Crosby’s most iconic goal with the Pittsburgh Penguins came from a top-shelf backhand on a rookie Anders Nilsson against the Islanders. Crosby hadn’t played in 11 months due to a severe concussion. He returned that night and scored two goals and four points in a 5-0 Penguins victory over the Islanders. Ask any Penguins fan, and a big chunk will point to that night as the most special of his career, Stanley Cups and Gold Medals aside.

Now, the other big face of hockey for the last 20 years gets his chance at a moment that will outlive his career against the Islanders.

Whether it’s Crosby and Lemieux pounding on the Islanders, Gretzky ending the Dynasty or his 894th goal, or now Ovechkin’s 895th goal, it all comes by way of the Islanders. No matter the circumstance, the Islanders are all over some of hockey’s most iconic moments. Tomorrow is primed to be the biggest of all.