Sharp Angle Shots an Issue For Sorokin, Only One Way to Fix It

New York Islanders netminder Ilya Sorokin is a heck of a goalie. There’s no denying the skill that the 26-year old, second-year NHL netminder possesses, but like any goaltender in hockey, he has his flaws. And this season, Sorokin has made those big-time stops in critical moments but has also allowed softer goals at inopportune times.

The goals have come for a few reasons.

Whether it be positioning or overthinking rather than reacting, the soft goals are something he has to sure up to be able to play to his full potential.

Sharp angle shots are shots that Sorokin more than likely did not face a whole lot of while he dominated the KHL. And with NHL shooters the most talented around, they will hit the areas provided and Sorokin has been too.

Sorokin Overthinking Rather Than Reacting

The most recent soft goal Sorokin has allowed came from overthinking. so let’s start with that.

Sorokin is ultra-talented in his movement from post-to-post or from his post to the top of the crease. He makes saves look easy in that regard but what we have seen with these sharp-angle goals is that he is thinking rather than reacting.

He’s thinking about getting over to make that back-door save or saves of that nature, rather than reacting to where the puck goes.

A perfect example of this came Sunday against the Montreal Canadiens. The second goal of the game for Montreal, off the stick of Josh Anderson, gave the Canadiens a 2-1  lead with just over a minute to play in the second period.

A chance that Sorokin should not have to face given the defensive-zone breakdowns but a shot that is stoppable.

Prior to Anderson taking the shot, Sorokin took a peek up the ice to see where the Canadiens were positioned. J

Just as the shot is about to come off Anderson’s stick, Sorokin flinched to the slot as he ever-so-slightly cheated the pass. That exposed the short-side and to further back up that claim, Sorokin looked over his left shoulder after the shot went in, rather the right.

In another article on NYI Hockey Now from a week ago, the need to be perfect has clearly been weighing on Sorokin. I dove into the weaker goals and why.

Struggling with RVH

When Ilya Sorokin drops down to guard the post, he’s off on his positioning at times. He has struggled with his RVH, maneuver which stands for Reverse Vertical Horizontal that is used when a netminder is on his post.

When Sorokin hugs the post, his skate blade is what touches the post. Many goaltenders are taught for the lip of the pad to be the part that touches the post, as it removes the hole or gap.

Here’s an example from Thursday’s game against the Boston Bruins.

The lack of strong positioning like this has become a habit that just does not work at the NHL level. These types of sharp-angle goals have happened throughout this season because of that.

RVH does not just impact the short-side chance but it impacts the whole position.

“I think you probably hit it right on,” New York Islanders head coach Barry Trotz said regarding experience the best way for Ilya Sorokin to work through this struggle. “That’s more of a trend throughout the league. I’m sure five or six years ago he wouldn’t see as many of those. Now they’re pretty commonplace just as the Michigan-type attempts and all those.

“There’s trends in the league that seem to evolve over the years, and this is one of them.”