In Uniondale, the New York Islanders needed a big game from someone, anyone, and 
got it from Ilya Sorokin who made 29 saves in a 4-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins in their Saturday matinee.
“I just enjoy the game and enjoy the moment,” Sorokin said. “I feel good. I had a good practice (Friday) and felt ready.”
The Game 4 win even the series at 2-2 heading to Pittsburgh for Game 5 on Monday.
“We have confidence in him, but I think the whole bench said, ‘Hey, he’s dialed in, so we’ve got to be dialed in too,'” New York head coach Barry Trotz said of Sorokin. “It was nice to play with a lead for once in this series. We haven’t done that a whole lot. Real key for us.”
Zach Aston-Reese scored the Pens only goal.
“I think it was probably closer than the score, but I don’t think it really matters at this point,” the Pens’ Sidney Crosby said. “They played better and deserved to win tonight.”
The Isles took a 4-0 lead in the game off goals from Josh Bailey, Ryan Pulock, Oliver Wahlstrom, and Jordan Eberle.
“He’s been solid in there all year, both of them have been,” Eberle said of Sorokin and Varlamov. “… It’s impressive to see [Sorokin] obviously in his first playoff run. I know he’s been through it in Russia, but to have poise and just his confidence back there and just his calmness, he makes big saves for us and he’s done it all year.”
Aston-Reese’s goal came late in the third period to ruin the shutout bd, the goal was shorthanded.
“We took too many penalties,” Pittsburgh head coach Mike Sullivan said. “We can’t take that many penalties. That’s the takeaway.
“We’re playing against a tough opponent and we knew it was going to be a tough series going into this. This isn’t anything that we didn’t expect, and we just have to make sure we react the right way.”
Tristan Jarry made 23 saves in the loss.
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