There had been mixed results for this specific Islanders’ lineup through the season’s first two games. But Barry Trotz thought the group deserved a chance to make up for one of the worst performances of the coach’s tenure with the team.
The Islanders still struggled to generate offense through much of Monday’s home opener against the Bruins – almost certainly the final curtain-raiser at Nassau Coliseum. But with a recovered Semyon Varlamov getting his second shutout in two starts, the Islanders got just enough for a 1-0 win.
Varlamov, who made 25 saves, pushed his shutout streak to 120 minutes, an Islanders record to start a season, bettering Rick DiPietro’s old mark of 115:35 set in 2003-04. Varlamov became the 14th goalie in NHL history with shutouts in his first two starts of the season.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau finally broke the goal-less tie at 15:51 of the third period, swatting the puck out of the air past Tuukka Rask (16 saves) after defenseman Adam Pelech took a shot from the left point.
The Islanders were coming off Saturday’s 5-0 loss to the Rangers at Madison Square Garden as they could not respond to Varlamov, the intended starter, being unable to play after being struck under his mask by Cal Clutterbuck’s shot in pre-game warmups. Highly-touted Russian rookie Ilya Sorokin made 27 saves in his NHL debut behind a defense prone to turnovers.
"The group that played that game, I’ve got to give them a little bit of a reprieve," Trotz said. "That game wasn’t lost in terms of the Xs and Os. That game was lost in the mindset. Our team has always been pretty resilient."
Varlamov had started the Thursday’s season-opener against the Rangers at the Garden, making 24 saves for the shutout.
The Islanders were better in the first period than they were on Saturday, if only just marginally. Neither team scored despite the Bruins holding an 11-3 shot advantage through the first 20 minutes but the Islanders still had trouble with turnovers and transitioning the puck through the neutral zone. Their lone power-play of the first period did not yield a shot.
In short, the Bruins, particularly their bottom-six forwards, out-grinded the Islanders while top-six forwards Brad Marchand and David Krejci both had shots hit the iron.
But Varlamov looked as comfortable as he did in making 24 saves in Thursday’s season-opening 4-0 win over the Rangers at the Garden.
He stopped six more shots in the second period as neither team sustained much of an attack. It was more of the same for the Bruins as well, as they came into Monday without a five-on-five goal this season after a 3-2 shootout win at New Jersey on Thursday and a 2-1 overtime loss to the Devils two days later.
Varlamov did move to his left to slow Nick Ritchie’s shot from the right circle at 18:51 of the second period, after Casey Cizikas could not handle defenseman Andy Greene’s pass into his skates along the left boards. The puck trickled past Varlamov and toward the net but defenseman Adam Pelech tucked it back under the goalie’s pads.
The Islanders’ best second-period chance came as captain Anders Lee’s tip-in try at the crease went over the net at 17:43 of the second period and, immediately after the power play expired, Jordan Eberle’s shot from the low slot was blocked by defenseman Brandon Carlo.
Rask also turned aside Anthony Beauvillier at 9:31 of the third period after the left wing got past the Bruins’ defense.
