The New York Islanders opened the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs with a win, defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3 in overtime to take a 1-0 series lead.
Ilya Sorokin made a bit of a surprise start, as Semyon Varlamov wasn’t ready to go quite yet and didn’t dress. It ended up working out fine for the Islanders, with Sorokin playing very well, stopping 39 of 42 shots in the win.
— x - New York Islanders (@NYIslanders) May 16, 2021
The Penguins had injury trouble of their own, however, as Evgeni Malkin missed the first contest while dealing with an injury. That didn’t stop Pittsburgh from starting strong though, as they controlled the play early on. For the first period and a bit, the Islanders kept getting pinned in their own end and had a hard time gaining possession, with the Penguins getting a lot of shots and chances off point shots. They did manage to get out of the period tied after trading goals but it wasn’t a great start, considering the key for the Islanders needed to be neutralizing Pittburgh’s offense, not trying to outscore them in an offensive battle.
Pittsburgh took a 2-1 lead a few minutes into the second period off a tip from Sidney Crosby but the Islanders were able to shift the momentum about midway through the second period. New York started to do a much better job of taking time and space from Pittsburgh’s forwards and by the third period, the Islanders had taken control of the game.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau tied it early into the third period with a great shot while coming down the wing and later in the frame, Brock Nelson managed to get a puck through Tristan Jarry to give New York a 3-2 lead. Kasperi Kapanen tied the game with a well-placed shot to send it to overtime, where it was Kyle Palmieri scoring his second goal of the game that ended it.
It wasn’t a full 60-minute effort but the Islanders did take over as the game went on. They badly outshot the Penguins in the third period and more importantly, managed to shut down Pittsburgh’s offense for most of the second half of the game.
The third line, specifically Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Kyle Palmieri, were great for the Islanders. They combined for three of the team’s four goals and did an excellent job forechecking Pittsburgh’s defense all game long. Some of Pittsburgh’s defenders had a tough time making plays under pressure and the Islanders’ forwards need to take advantage of that.
I don’t know what to say about Tristan Jarry because he played alright overall but the goals he let in were highly stoppable. The Islanders didn’t get a ton of great chances but if Jarry can’t be more consistent and New York can continue limiting chances like they did later in the game, things are looking good.
It was key for the Islanders to take a road win in Game One and while it wasn’t a perfect outing, New York got the job done with a good effort in the second half of the game.
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If Semyon Varlamov is ready for Game 2, who should the Islanders start in goal?
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