Trotz could make switch to Varlamov in Game 2

If the Islanders go down 2-0 to the Bruins in this second-round series that picks up in Boston on Monday night, chances are they wouldn’t want to do so with their No. 1 goaltender on the bench.

And so there is a strong possibility that Semyon Varlamov will replace Ilya Sorokin in nets for Game 2, with head coach Barry Trotz admitting on Sunday that he would “mull over it.”

“The great thing about our goaltending is that you can put anyone in and you can be successful with either one of them,” Trotz said in the early afternoon. “Last series, Ilya started feeling it against Pittsburgh and so we stuck with him.

“He’s playing good [but] I don’t know where I’m going as of yet. I have a couple of more hours to mull over it and Ill let which goalie know who’s playing.”

ISLANDERS NOTES

Sorokin was not the most serious issue in Saturday’s opening 5-2 empty-net abetted defeat but despite Boston’s 40-22 advantage in shots and 58-30 edge in five-on-five attempts, the 25-year-old netminder was not at his best.

In addition to having trouble finding pucks in his skates with Bruins routinely crashing the net, Sorokin allowed a pair of rebound goals to David Pastrnak after kicking initial shots directly into the left circle, where No. 88 was hovering.

Sorokin went 4-0 in the first round with a .943 save percentage and 1.95 GAA in place of Varlamov, who lost both of his starts in Games 2 and 3 while allowing seven goals on 72 shots (.903, 3.61).

➤ Trotz said that the Islanders would go with “the same group,” so that rules out the possibility of Oliver Wahlstrom returning to the lineup for this one. The winger has missed the last two games in the aftermath of sustaining a lower-body injury during the third period of Game 5 of the first round.

Boston second-line winger Craig Smith, who left Saturday’s contest one shift into the third period after having been nailed on a check by Cal Clutterbuck midway through the second, will attempt to participate in the morning skate, “if he’s able to,” according to Boston coach Bruce Cassidy.