Semyon Varlamov stopped all 23 shots he faced Sunday afternoon for the visiting New York Islanders, who blanked the skidding Winnipeg Jets 4-0.
Varlamov, making his first start since Feb. 18, posted his second shutout of the season. He made 21 saves in a 3-0 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Dec. 4.
Bo Horvat scored a short-handed goal in the first period, Alexander Romanov and Brock Nelson scored in the second and Adam Pelech added an empty-netter late in the third for the Islanders, who have won three of four (3-1-0). New York remained three points ahead of the Buffalo Sabres in the race for the first wild card in the Eastern Conference.
David Rittich recorded 20 saves for the Jets, who have lost five of six (1-5-0) to fall into the second wild card in the West, one point ahead of the Seattle Kraken prior to the Kraken’s game later Sunday against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Horvat opened the scoring 1:12 after Sebastian Aho was whistled for hooking. The center picked up the puck deep in the Islanders’ zone and skated up the right side before firing a shot under the legs of Jets defenseman Josh Morrissey and beyond the stick of Rittich at the 7:56 mark.
Romanov doubled the lead 4:22 into the second. Casey Cizikas took the puck from Hudson Fasching at the edge of the Islanders’ zone and skated around the Jets’ net and almost all the way to the blue line before passing to a wide-open Romanov, who beat Rittich as he was screened by teammate Pierre-Luc Dubois as well as Matt Martin.
The Jets nearly ended the shutout before Nelson scored in impressive fashion with 1:19 left in the period. Kyle Connor’s backhanded shot into the crease clipped off teammate Sam Gagner and bounced into the slot, where Nelson reached out and poked the puck past Brenden Dillon.
Zach Parise then beat Neal Pionk to the puck at the boards and backhanded a pass through the neutral zone to Nelson, who controlled the puck while passing it through the legs of Connor before whirling in the slot and beating Rittich.
The Jets pulled Rittich with about four minutes left in the third but didn’t build a threat before Pelech scored into the empty net with 2:01 left.
–Field Level Media
