On the morning of David Rittich’s first start in goal as an Islander, coach Patrick Roy was on the ice far longer than usual to work with Ilya Sorokin.
This was the time, with Sorokin struggling through his first three starts, for Roy to bend his own rule about not getting involved with coaching the goaltenders.
“Shame on me,” said Roy before Thursday night’s 4-2 win over the Oilers at UBS Arena. “Should have done it before.”
This, Roy went on to say, was not about working with Sorokin on technique. That is still director of goaltending Piero Greco’s domain. But Roy felt he had something to impart about the mental side of the game.
After all, Roy is arguably the greatest big-game goaltender in history.
“When I met with [Sorokin] before the season, I said I wanted him to feel my trust,” Roy said. “I thought today was the moment. I want him to know that I trust him, I’ll be there for him and I’ll support him.
“We’re using the word compassion: That’s an example. You want to be there for your players. Ilya deserves that. Ilya is one of the best goalies in the league and he needs to have fun being on the ice and he needs to feel good about himself.”
After the loss to Winnipeg on Monday, Sorokin said his confidence is still in a good place, but he has openly admitted more than once in the last week, including then, that his game has been far from where it should be.
“I think it’s confidence,” Roy said. “Most of it is confidence. [Former Montreal teammate Hall of Fame defenseman] Denis Savard always said to me, ‘You’re like a big bus in front of your net.’ Sometimes, just wording like this goes a long way. It brings confidence. That’s all I care about.”
Roy plans to start Sorokin on Saturday in Ottawa, which means that he’ll get four of the Islanders’ first five games. That is on par with the mammoth workload he’s shouldered over the last three seasons.
While Roy did not want to share publicly anything specific he told Sorokin, it was clear that a lot of their conversation centered on his experience from his own career.
“I think I can help him on the mental side of the game because my career was not just a Cinderella story,” Roy said. “I had good games, but I also had some bad ones. So I feel like, sometimes, being able to share that with your goalies is something that could hopefully go a long way.”
