Islanders 4, Rangers 3: Semyon Varlamov stopped all 10 shots he faced in his first NHL game in almost two years, and the New York Islanders rallied past the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
Varlamov, who replaced Ilya Sorokin midway through the second period, was playing his first game with the Islanders since Nov. 29, 2024, when he sustained a knee injury. The 38-year-old goaltender then spent the next 22 months rehabbing from double partial knee replacements.
“It means a lot. That was nice,” Varlamov said about getting hugs from his teammates. “It was a preseason game, but it’s exciting to win, even a preseason game. It’s nice to be out there with the teammates, battle, and yeah, I had fun today. Overall, it was a good game. I just tried to get used to the game speed, feel good and work on a few things.
“We didn’t give up much. We didn’t give up 2-on-1s, we didn’t give up any odd-man rushes, really. I thought we were solid defensively. Like I said, I felt pretty comfortable. There were no backdoor plays. The D-men played really good for me.”
Matias Maccelli had two goals and an assist, and Matthew Schaefer had a goal and two assists for the Islanders (1-1-0). Sorokin allowed three goals on nine shots.
Pavel Dorofeyev scored for the Rangers (0-2-0). Igor Shesterkin made 18 saves before being relieved by Spencer Martin, who allowed two goals on eight shots in the third period.
Cole Beaudoin gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead at 8:23 of the first period, knocking in a loose puck in the crease during a delayed penalty.
Dorofeyev made it 2-0 at 6:03 of the second period, ripping a one-timer past Sorokin’s glove from the left circle.
Dorofeyev was making his Rangers debut after being acquired in a trade with the Vegas Golden Knights on June 26. He signed a seven-year, $77 million contract ($11 million average annual value) with the Rangers on June 30.
Taylor Raddysh extended the lead to 3-0 at 7:20.
Kyle MacLean began the Islanders’ comeback at 11:36 when he lifted in the puck near the right post to make it 3-1.
Schaefer cut it 3-2 with a power-play goal at 17:47.
Maccelli then scored two more goals with the man-advantage in the third period to give the Islanders the lead.
Maccelli tied it 3-3 at 4:02 when his cross-crease pass deflected in off the skate of Rangers defenseman Sean Durzi. He made it 4-3 at 9:29 by swiping in the rebound of Schaefer’s point shot with his backhand.
