Islanders blank Rangers, clinch playoff berth
UNIONDALE, N.Y. — Anthony Beauvillier scored twice and Semyon Varlamov stopped 28 shots for his league-leading seventh shutout of the season as the New York Islanders beat the rival Rangers 3-0 Saturday night to clinch a playoff spot for the third straight year.
Mathew Barzal added a breakaway goal and Josh Bailey had three assists to help the Islanders beat the Rangers for the sixth time in eight meetings this season, including the last three by a combined 13-1 margin.
The 33-year-old Varlamov, who had three shutouts against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden, added another as the Islanders dominated from start to finish.
Alexandar Georgiev finished with 22 saves for the Rangers.
With Boston’s win over Buffalo earlier Saturday, the Rangers trail the Bruins by eight points with four games remaining. Boston thus needs to earn just one point over its last six games to eliminate the Rangers.
The Rangers lost in last summer’s play-in round to
Carolina while the Islanders reached the conference finals where they lost to eventual champion Tampa Bay in six games.
The Islanders are third in the East Division, one point ahead of Boston.
Beauvillier opened the scoring at 4:39 of the first period. Bailey and Nick Leddy assisted. That continued a season-long trend as the team that scored first won all eight meetings.
Barzal made it 2-0 at 16:22, beating Georgiev with on a breakaway with a backhand. Bailey had the lone assist. Barzal, who snapped a 12game goal drought with an empty-net goal against the
Rangers in Thursday’s 4-0 win at the Garden, has seven goals and 25 points in 20 career games against the Rangers.
Beauvillier got his second of the night 62 seconds into the second with a shot from the the right circle that eluded Georgiev to the stick side. It was the 13th goal this season for Beauvillier and his 13th career goal in 21 games against the Rangers. Bailey and Brock Nelson had assists.
Varlamov made 10 saves in the first, eight in the second and 10 more in the third. His best save came 12 minutes into the first period when he denied Pavel Buchnevich on a 2-on-1 with Artemi Panarin.