Late goal sparks Islanders past Bruins, 1-0
New York begins final season in venerable Nassau Coliseum
UNIONDALE, N.Y. — Semyon Varlamov stopped 27 shots for his 29th career shutout, Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored with 4:09 remaining, and the New York Islanders beat the Boston Bruins 1-0 in their home opener Monday.
Adam Pelech fired a shot from the left point and Boston’s Patrice Bergeron deflected the puck up in the air. Pageau batted it in past Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask to put the Islanders on the scoreboard.
Varlamov, who missed Saturday’s game against the Rangers after he took a puck off his neck in pregame warmups, got his second shutout in two starts this season. He had 24 saves in a 4-0 win against the Rangers last Thursday.
“I’ll take back-to-back shutouts, I’m not going to lie,” Varlamov said. “I’m pretty happy today. But this is just the beginning of the year, a lot of games coming. We played well today and I’m glad we scored the important goal in the end.”
Varlamov stopped consecutive chances by Nick Ritchie with about a minute remaining to keep the Bruins off the scoreboard.
It was a big bounce-back win for the Islanders, coming off a 5-0 loss at the Rangers two nights earlier.
Rask, who had beaten the Islanders in seven of his last eight starts against them, stopped 16 shots for the Bruins in the finale of their season-opening three-game trip. Boston
won in a shootout, and then lost in OT in games at New Jersey.
It was the Islanders’ first home game since last March 7, when they lost 3-2 in overtime against Carolina at Nassau Coliseum. Without fans in attendance this time because of the coronavirus pandemic, there were cardboard cutouts in the stands and crowd noise was pumped in on the speakers.
The Islanders opened their final season at the Nassau Coliseum — again. Next season, they are expected to open play at their new home, UBS Arena, adjacent to Belmont Park.
The Islanders previously left the Coliseum after the 2014-15 season for Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. The team returned to the Coliseum in the 2018-19 season, splitting home games between Long Island and Brooklyn the last two years. This season all their home games will be at the Coliseum.
BLUE JACKETS 3, RED WINGS 2: In Detroit, Alexandre Texier and Pierre-Luc Dubois scored 1:16 apart early in the third period to give Columbus a two-goal lead and it held on to beat the Red Wings.
Oliver Bjorkstrand scored late in the second period and Joonas Korpisalo finished with 35 saves in the Blue Jackets’ first win of the season.
BLUES 5, SHARKS 4: In St. Louis, Jordan Kyrou got the tiebreaking goal midway through the third period, Justin Faulk scored twice and St. Louis rallied to beat San Jose.
Mike Hoffman scored his first goal with the Blues and Brayden Schenn also scored for St. Louis, which beat San Jose for the fourth straight time on home ice.
SABRES 6, FLYERS 1: In Philadelphia, Sam Reinhart and Curtis Lazar each scored two goals to lead Buffalo past Philadelphia for its first win of the season.
Carter Hutton stopped 21 shots in a light night of work against a Flyers team that had scored 11 goals in their first two games.
MAPLE LEAFS 3, JETS 1: In Toronto, Mitch Marner scored twice, John Tavares also scored and Frederik Andersen made 27 saves for the Maple Leafs.
Kyle Connor scored for Winnipeg, and Connor Hellebuyck stopped 35 shots inside an empty Scotiabank Arena.
CANADIENS 3, OILERS 1: In Edmonton, Alberta, Jake Allen made 25 saves in his first game with Montreal, Shea Weber got his first goal of the season and the Canadiens beat the Oilers.
Artturi Lehkonen and rookie Alexander Romanov also scored for Montreal, which beat Edmonton for the second time in three nights. Montreal’s penalty kill was key in the victory, shutting down Oilers snipers Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl on seven power plays.
HURRICANES 4, PREDATORS 2: In Nashville, Tenn., Andrei Svechnikov, Sebastian Aho and Vincent Trocheck each had a goal and an assist as Carolina beat Nashville.
FLAMES 5, CANUCKS 2: In Calgary, Alberta, Johnny Gaudreau had a goal and an assist, leading Calgary past Vancouver.
Mikael Backlund, Elias Lindholm, Mark Giordano and Rasmus Andersson also scored against the Canucks, who played their fourth road game in six days.
DUCKS 1, WILD 0: In Anaheim, Calif., John Gibson made 33 saves in his 20th career shutout, and Nicolas Deslauriers scored early in the third period of Anaheim’s victory.