Semyon Varlamov made 35 saves before exiting with an injury in the third period, helping the New York Islanders secure a 5-2 win over the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday night.
Zach Parise and Brock Nelson each recorded a goal and an assist, while Anders Lee, Hudson Fasching, and Simon Holmstrom scored for the Islanders. Jean-Gabriel Pageau contributed two assists. The win marked New York’s second victory in their last six games (2-3-1).
Varlamov left the game with 6:22 remaining, and Ilya Sorokin came in to stop the only shot he faced. Islanders coach Lane Lambert expressed surprise at Varlamov’s exit and indicated the goalie’s status would be evaluated in the coming days.
“We’ll evaluate him in the next couple of days and see where he’s at,” Lambert said.
Reilly Smith scored two power-play goals for the Golden Knights, who had won six of their previous nine games. Despite a strong road record 14-2-1, Vegas fell to 8-8 at home.
“You’ve got to take what’s there, and we were willing to do that but not early on,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “At home, that’s been our problem is that we’re trying to make plays against every team that comes in early in the game when they’re ready to play, and it’s not working out. It’s what we do well on the road to other teams.”
The Golden Knights also lost captain Mark Stone, who was helped off the ice with 8:20 remaining after being hit by a shot from teammate Phil Kessel. Cassidy mentioned that Stone did not appear seriously injured but would have more information on Sunday.
Defenseman Alex Pietrangelo returned to the lineup for Vegas after missing nine games due to his daughter’s serious illness. He assisted on Smith’s third-period goal and logged a team-high 21:45 ice time.
The Islanders opened the scoring with 1:02 left in the first period when Anthony Beauvillier found Lee in the slot for his 10th goal of the season.
Vegas capitalized on a power play at the start of the second period, with Smith scoring off a rebound at 1:12 to tie the game. However, Fasching restored New York’s lead 3:20 later, and Holmstrom extended it to 3-1 with 2:23 left in the second period, scoring his first career goal.
Smith’s second power-play goal early in the third period brought the Golden Knights within one, marking his fourth goal in the last three games. However, Parise and Nelson scored empty-netters in the final 90 seconds to seal the victory for New York.
“This has been a road trip where we’ve worked really hard and haven’t quite got the results we wanted,” Fasching said. “It’s good to get a ‘W.’”
NOTES
The Islanders announced forwards Cal Clutterbuck and Kyle Palmieri are day-to-day with upper-body injuries. Vegas’ Chandler Stephenson extended his points streak to four games (one goal, six assists). New York’s Sebastian Aho (one goal, two assists) has points in three consecutive games, and Nelson (one goal, four assists) also has points in three straight games, picking up his 200th career assist.
UP NEXT
- Islanders: At Colorado on Monday night.
- Golden Knights: Host Buffalo on Monday night.
