One of the most popular cliches in football is that any team with two starting quarterbacks really has none.
The New York Islanders are learning the same is not true when it comes to a hockey team and goaltenders.
The Islanders will look to continue their strong play without injured No. 1 netminder Ilya Sorokin on Sunday night, when New York visits the Columbus Blue Jackets in a battle of Metropolitan Division rivals.
The Islanders will be completing a back-to-back set after David Rittich stopped all 27 shots he faced in Saturday’s 2-0 win over the visiting New York Rangers in Elmont, N.Y.
The Blue Jackets last played Monday, when they beat the host Los Angeles Kings 3-1.
Rittich is in line for his fourth straight start Sunday in place of Sorokin, who was placed on injured reserve Saturday with a lower-body injury. New York initially hoped Sorokin, who has been dealing with what the club described as “a small nagging issue,” could return following the holiday break.
But Rittich, a 33-year-old playing for his sixth NHL team, continued to play well in Sorokin’s absence Saturday, posting his second shutout of the season while improving to 9-3-2 and raising his save percentage to .919. Sorokin is 12-10-2 this season with three shutouts and a .910 save percentage.
“I think he has a happy-go-lucky mindset,” Islanders center Bo Horvat said of Rittich, whose mask includes a drawing of Homer Simpson in a fisherman’s outfit. “He takes the game really seriously, but he likes to have fun out there, too. He enjoys playing, he enjoys playing the game. He’s been phenomenal for us all year.”
The Islanders improved to 8-3-1 this month despite playing all or much of the schedule without Kyle Palmieri and Alexander Romanov — each of whom are out for the season with injuries suffered last month — and Horvat, who returned Saturday from a five-game absence due to a left ankle injury.
“I do believe that we are playing with more confidence, maybe, than we had when the season started,” Islanders head coach Patrick Roy said. “We have some clarity in what we’re doing.”
The task ahead is clear for the Blue Jackets, who will be the last NHL team to return from the holiday break. The win Monday was just the sixth in the last 19 games (6-8-5) for Columbus.
The skid has dropped the Blue Jackets into last place in the Eastern Conference despite a .500 record. Columbus (36 points) is six points out of the second wild-card spot.
“To go through the break and feel good about how we played and to get rewarded with two points, hopefully we’ll carry (that) through here,” Blue Jackets head coach Dean Evason said following practice Saturday.
The Blue Jackets will also hope Mason Marchment can build on his hot start with the club — especially with star defenseman Zach Werenski unlikely to play Sunday. Werenski missed Monday’s game with a lower-body injury and didn’t practice Saturday.
Marchment, acquired from the Seattle Kraken in exchange for a pair of draft picks on Dec. 19, scored two goals Monday after collecting a goal in his Columbus debut on Dec. 20, when the Blue Jackets fell to the Anaheim Ducks 4-3.
“There’s going to be different systems, but for the most part, you’ve just got to play the game,” Marchment said. “There’s going to be space where there’s going to be space and you’ve got to find it and try to take advantage of it.”
–Field Level Media
