The Islanders in the 2021 playoffs, already doing Islanders things after Game 1. Let’s examine:
Goalie problems? What goalie problems?
Perhaps it was too big an assumption on, oh, everyone’s part that Semyon Varlamov would start Game 1. Varlamov left Monday’s regular-season finale with a tweak of the knee issue that had nagged him two weeks earlier, then he only skated Friday with the Islanders’ extras and Saturday with the full group. But Varlamov is the clear Isles No. 1 goalie, so when Ilya Sorokin led the team out onto the PPG Paints Arena ice late Sunday morning, there was some surprise.
“We had a decision to make last night on Varlamov,” Barry Trotz said.
