The New York Islanders got off to a great start in their first game of the 2020-21 season, downing the New York Rangers 4-0 Thursday night. It was a complete 180 in the rematch Saturday night as the Rangers trounced the Islanders 5-0, which started off with an injury that Isles head coach Barry Trotz called unacceptable.
During warm-ups, Cal Clutterbuck put a shot up high, catching starting goaltender Semyon Varlamov under the mask. Varlamov would leave, which forced fellow goaltender Ilya Sorokin into making his first ever NHL start.
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"It wasn't fair to Ilya, it wasn't fair to Varly, the way the guys warmed him up. It started in warm-up and it just sort of carried over through the whole game," said Trotz in a post-game interview.
"Obviously, we put [Sorokin] in a real tough circumstance," Trotz said. "We did it to ourselves injuring 'Varly' in the warmup. To me, it's almost unacceptable. To me, it's like running your quarterback over in warm-up. Players got to recognize that your goaltender is almost your most important player on your team. You've got to get him warmed up. Guys are not thinking."
Sorokin made 27 saves in his debut, but also let in five. Trotz did not have an update on Varlamov in the post-game interview. If another goalie is needed, the Islanders did sign former New Jersey Devil Corey Schneider to a one-year deal just before the season started.
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