Varlamov propels Isles past Panthers
SUNRISE, Fla. — A year ago at this time, the Islanders got into the playoffs mostly because Ilya Sorokin could keep them in games night after night.
Sorokin hasn’t been able to do that in the same way this season. But Semyon Varlamov certainly did on Thursday night in South Florida, where the Islanders came away 3-2 winners over the Panthers in a match where they were pretty well outplayed by last year’s Eastern Conference champions.
The 27-save performance from Varlamov not only gave the Islanders a musthave two points to stay relevant in the playoff chase, but brought into further focus something that has been brewing for a few weeks now. The case for riding Varlamov — and not Sorokin — down the stretch is growing stronger with every game.
“Felt really good,” Varlamov said. “It’s amazing to win, especially here in Florida against one of the best offensive teams in the NHL. It’s a great feeling.”
Varlamov, having started just his 21st game of the season Thursday, is much fresher than Sorokin, who has started 117 games since last October, postseason included. And at least at the moment, he is playing better than the netminder who has lost his last six starts with an .881 save percentage over the duration.
Thursday was the exact sort of game the Islanders have needed from one of their goalies all season — stealing one in a game against superior opposition — on a night where every single one of their rivals in the playoff chase lost, bringing them within four points of the second wild-card spot.
“Stellar,” Ryan Pulock said of Varlamov. “Playing the puck, seeing the puck, making the saves. I thought he was a brick wall back there for us.”
The Panthers looked good all night at five-onfive, owning the possession battle and forcing the Islanders to play defendand-counterattack hockey. For long stretches, especially early in the night, this looked every bit like one team in the Presidents’ Trophy fight and another in the wild-card fight. But instead of succumbing, the Islanders took every punch and answered with one of their own.
Even as the Islanders took a 3-2 lead into the final period, finding some offensive success in being physical with Anthony Stolarz, the game did not at all appear safe.
And when the Panthers went on the power play 9:17 into the final period following a lengthy delayed penalty, the goaltender had his shining moment with a pad save on Sam Reinhart’s shot that appeared destined for the back of the net.
“The mind is the same,” Varlamov said. “Just continue to battle no matter what.”
The Islanders appeared to undergo a classic spiral in the first period when Vladimir Tarasenko’s opening goal almost immediately followed an apparent Pulock tally being negated for goaltender interference. But just five minutes later, Pulock made up for it, sniping one past Stolarz to tie the game at the 13:20 mark.
Another chance to fritter the game away came early in the second, when Aleksander Barkov put in a backdoor feed from Reinhart 6:32 into the period, right after the Islanders had failed to score on consecutive power-play chances. Again, though, the Islanders refused to let go of the game, with Mathew Barzal and Jean-Gabriel Pageau scoring consecutive goals to give them a 3-2 lead.