The Islanders' acquisition of Kyle Palmieri prior to this season's trade deadline initially looked to be a bust.
In the last 17 games of the regular season after the trade, Palmieri just wasn't contributing in the way he was expected, recording just two goals and two assists in that span.
It only took one game of the playoffs for Palmieri to match his goal output for the Islanders in those 17 games, scoring the bookend goals in the Islanders' 4-3 overtime win over the Penguins.
"I'm really glad for Palms," New York coach Barry Trotz said after the game. "I know he probably put pressure on in the regular season when he joined us. But we knew when the games get tight, you've got to go to the dirty areas, a guy like him is capable of producing. He was able to do that tonight."
Trotz said that during the regular season he told Palmieri not to worry about scoring, and just to worry about playing well. Trotz wanted him to focus on things like the little details, defensive assignments, forechecking, puck decisions.
"If you're playing well, usually you'll produce because you're a good player," Trotz said.
It didn't take Palmieri long to start producing in the playoffs.
One of the keys for the Penguins coming into this game was to score first, given the Islanders' incredible record of 23-2-2 when scoring first in the regular season.
It was Palmieri, though, who got the Islanders on the board first when he put a wrist shot past Tristan Jarry off of a rush at 7:58 of the first period:
"He's an Islander," Jean-Gabriel Pageau said of Palmieri. "Just to see him out there doing his thing, he's so competitive. ... He fits right in. He's our best player tonight, I thought he was solid in every aspect of his game. That's why he got so many chances."
And then it was Palmieri who scored the overtime winner, elevating a bouncing puck over Jarry's shoulder at the 16:30 mark of the extra frame:
"I was brought here to try and help this team win," Palmieri said. "Obviously it's just one game, and tomorrow we'll get back to work and get ready for Game 2, but it's definitely nice to start off on the right foot. As a team, we just have to reset and get ourselves ready."
"Everybody knows he's able to score," Brock Nelson said of Palmieri. "He's able to create something out of nothing. He has a nice release on him, and he can find the back of the net. It doesn't always come easy in this league, but he goes out there and works hard. Today he got rewarded with a couple of big ones."
After Palmieri, the best player on the ice for the Islanders was rookie goaltender Ilya Sorokin, making his first NHL postseason appearance.
Sorokin was called upon after starting goaltender Semyon Varlamov missed the game while dealing with what Trotz called "a little strain" sustained in the Islander's last game of the regular season.
Sorokin made 39 saves in the win, including 10 in the overtime period, to no surprise of his teammates.
"Super calm," Pageau said of Sorokin's performance. "Even before the game, he's a goalie, a person that has a lot of confidence. He's super calm. You see him during practice, he's a competitive guy. He never quits on any pucks, and it reflects in his game. He's a huge part of the win tonight."
"He made the saves and kept us in it," Palmieri added. "Sorokin, he competes. He's not the biggest guy, but you see it every day in practice how hard he plays and how hard he competes on the puck. For a goalie to give us a chance to win on the road in Game 1, that's all you could ask for. He played a great game tonight."
My goodness, Ilya Sorokin. 😱#ItsOn pic.twitter.com/TrTU9KHn0u
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 16, 2021
"I was really impressed," Trotz said of Sorokin's performance. "Obviously he made a couple of huge saves. He made a toe save on (Sidney Crosby) on the power play the one time, and I thought he was really sharp on a power play late in the second period. We had to get through that. A 2-1 game, if we don't kill that power play off, I think we're probably not sitting here as winning the first game. That would have been a tough hill to climb against a very good hockey team."
Trotz said that Varlamov skated on Saturday and Sunday, and will join the team for Monday's practice, after which he's expected to be game-ready again.
"We just thought, long term, that's one thing that we think we have, is two capable goalies," Trotz said of the decision to start Sorokin and give Varlamov the game off. "If we want to have any success we're going to need both of them. So we said, 'You know what? Let's sort of do what's right. Let's not risk anything here. Let's be cautious. We'll give him another day of practice, and then he'll be 100 percent.'"
With Varlamov healthy, it creates an interesting decision for the Islanders. Varlamov was the better goaltender in the regular season, and had the fifth-best goals-against average (2.04) among goaltenders with over 10 games played. He had the third-best save percentage in the same group, recording an average of .929. But after the performance Sorokin had on Sunday, it's hard to imagine the Islanders making a change for Game 2.
"He's as level-headed of a goaltender as you're going to meet," Trotz said of Sorokin. "He's a confident guy. ... He had a smile on his face when I told him (Saturday) he was going to start. He said, 'Oh, no problem, coach. I'll be good tomorrow.'"
