Nashville Predators left wing Kiefer Sherwood (44) shoots against New York Islanders goaltender Semyon Varlamov (40) during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Elmont, N.Y., Saturday, April 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter K. Afriyie)
NEW YORK (AP) — Semyon Varlamov had a season-high 41 saves for his third shutout of the season, and the New York Islanders beat the Nashville Predators 2-0 Saturday night, getting a crucial win in their playoff push.
Noah Dobson and Kyle Palmieri scored as the Islanders won their fourth straight to take a two-point lead over both Philadelphia and Pittsburgh for third place in the Eastern Conference. The Penguins hold the second wild card while the Flyers are out of a playoff position. New York and Pittsburgh have five games remaining, one more than Philadelphia.
“Some pucks I see, some pucks I didn’t,” Varlamov said. “Couple of times I thought I got lucky. Luck was definitely on my side today, which is good, I’ll take that any day.”
The 35-year-old Varlamov, who started four of the last six games, got his 41st career shutout and first since Nov. 2 against Washington.
“The crowd was going crazy,” Varlamov said. “It was a playoff atmosphere.”
The Islanders snapped a 10-game losing streak (0-8-2) against the Predators, dating back to Oct. 28, 2017.
“We haven’t had much success against that team over the past years,” Casey Cizikas said. “To come up with two points in the fashion that we did, playing hard, getting big kills, big saves from Varly when we needed it. That one means a lot.”
Kevin Lankinen finished with 28 saves as the Predators lost for the fourth time in five games.
“They defended their blue paint really well,” Predators coach Andrew Brunette said. “I thought we did a lot of good things, all through the ice, all through the game. Maybe a little bit sluggish early, but got going and couldn’t buy a goal late in the game.”
Dobson opened the scoring at 9:07 of the…
Read the full article here
Leave a Reply