Islanders Beat Rangers 2-1 In Tune Up Game

In the New York Islanders exhibition game against the Rangers, Semyon Varlamov stole the show in their 2-1 win.

For the first time in over five months, the New York Islanders took the ice in an exhibition game against the Rangers. For the Isles, Semyon Varlamov got the start, which seemed to hint at who would get the start on Saturday.

1:30 into the game Tony DeAngelo went to the box giving the Isles a power-play chance. Jesper Fast would take a penalty as well giving the Isles a 5-on-3 power play. They weren’t able to find the net but on the first two power plays they looked crisp.

Before the end of the period, Johnny Boychuk would drop the gloves with Brendan Lemieux. So much for social distancing!

The Isles got another power play opportunity but it was squandered when Mat Barzal took an unnecessary penalty right off the face-off. Technically, it put the Islanders at 0-for-3 on the night.

After one period of play, the Rangers had 12 shots on goal to the Islanders six with no score.

In the second, Semyon Varlamov thrived and seemed to lock in the starting job with absolute highway robbery multiple times in front of the net.

At the 9:15 mark of the period, Anthony Beauvillier got the Islanders on the board with a beautiful goal and beauty of a feed from Andy Greene:

That was it for Igor Shesterkin as the Rangers switched to Henrik Lundqvist to close out the rest of the game. After the second, the Isles elected to pull Varlamov to get Greiss some work as Varly ended his night stopping all 19 shots faced.

In the third, the Isles would get their fifth power-play chance of the day with no luck again. They ended the day 0-for-5 on the night on the man advantage. Late in the period, Devon Toews received a beautiful pass from Derick Brassard to give the Isles a two-goal lead.

An absolute snipe from the extremely speedy Devon Toews. Brassard did a nice job putting that puck where only Toews could catch up to it and Toews made no mistake about burying it.

Less than a minute later, Filip Chytil would get one back against Thomas Greiss, but there wasn’t much that Greiss could do with that one. Two goals would be enough for the Islanders, as they won their exhibition 2-1.

With only 22 shots and just one goal allowed, it was a very New York Islanders hockey game. They controlled play, and kept the Rangers to the outside for the most part. They’ll play for real on Saturday at 4:00 pm for Game 1 against Florida.

Want your voice heard? Join the Eyes On Isles team!

Write for us!

Winners: Semyon Varlamov, Anthony Beauvillier, Devon Toews

Losers: Igor Shesterkin, Brendan Lemieux, Ryan Lindgren