Isles Insights: Beauvillier, Varlamov Impress in Islanders Exhibition Victory | NYHN+

This will be a game Barry Trotz will take any day of the week. The New York Islanders carried the pace of play against the New York Rangers in Wednesday’s exhibition game and came away with the 2-1 victory.

The Islanders took about 20 minutes to fully get their sea legs under them, but once they did the team appeared to find a rhythm. The Isles outshot the Rangers 16-15 through the final 40 minutes and they picked up the physical play in the second period.

Isles Insights 

1. Anthony Beauvillier had a standout performance on Wednesday night. The 23-year-old lead the Islanders in shots on goal with four and scored the opening goal 9:15 into the second period. And Beauvillier had plenty of scoring chances before that as well.

Late in the first period, Beauvillier forced New York Rangers starter Igor Sheseterkin to make a tough save. The hard-charging Beauvillier was then able to pick up his own rebound and draw a penalty.

Beauvillier had a bit of an up and down year during the regular season. He finished the year with 18 goals, but registered just two points in the Islanders’ last 10 games before the pandemic. The winger spent training camp 2.0 working with Brock Nelson and Josh Bailey, and the trio worked out well.

“I thought Beau was really dangerous,” Islanders head coach Barry Trotz said. “Obviously the speed. He was on pucks. Obviously he scored the goal. I thought he was quite engaged. I really liked that line.”

2. The other notable standout was Semyon Varlamov, who looked like he deserved the starting job for Game 1. Varlamov made 19 saves before he gave way to Thomas Greiss and wowed the fanbase with a pair of acrobatic stops on Jesper Fast in the second period. Fast had a point-blank chance stopped by the extended left pad of the Russian netminder and then Varlamov stacked his pads to stop the rebound attempt.

“That save, I haven’t tried that move in probably the last 15 years,” Varlamov said. “Probably never. Sometimes you got to do what you got to do. Old school style never gets old.”

Prior to the exhibition tilt, Trotz had mentioned that he wanted to see how his goaltenders tracked the puck. He likened it to how a batter sees the ball. It was easy to see that Varlamov was tracking it well on Wednesday.

Earlier in the game, Varlamov showed some nice lateral movement to stop a shot from the side of the net from Kaapo Kakko.

3. In case it wasn’t clear, the level of respect Barry Trotz has for Ross Johnston is becoming quite evident. The 26-year-old was given a spot alongside Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Derick Brassard. Tom Kuhnhackl had spent time on that line as well during camp and it was speculated that he’d at least have been given a chance to play a bit against the Rangers.

Instead, Trotz opted to dress eight defensemen.

At 6’5, 235 lbs, Johnston is unquestionable big. He can use that size to his advantage on the ice. What he also has is speed and some skill, which sometimes go unnoticed. But Trotz has been quick to notice that and point out what he can bring to the roster.

Trotz even went as far as to compare him to a notably pesky forward on the Washington Capitals.

“The age is a little different and their draft pedigree is a little different,” Trotz said.  “But he does a lot of things that way back when, when Tom (Wilson) was a young man he grew into that. There’s no reason that Ross can’t do a lot of the same things at a little older age.”

About 95 percent of the lineup seen against the Rangers will be the same when the Islanders take the ice for Game 1 against the Florida Panthers. Will Ross Johnston be among them? It’s a possibility.

4. Could the Islanders dress seven defensemen and 11 forwards on Saturday? “Yes, there is a chance,” Trotz said with a smirk during the postgame media session.

5. An interesting tidbit that no one seemed to pick up on, myself included, was that Mat Barzal took a limited number of faceoffs on Wednesday night. Barzal was in the faceoff circle four times and came away with the puck just once. It was the fewest among Islander forwards.

Anders Lee took five faceoffs, winning four of them. Brock Nelson was given 17 chances in the faceoff dot and won 12 of them. It’s something to keep an eye on going forward.

6. The Islanders power play got plenty of work early in the game. The Rangers took two penalties in the opening three minutes and went down a man five times total. The Islanders went 0-for-5 on the man-advantage with a total of four shots on goal during the power play opportunities. They did move the puck a bit better early on as well.

On the flip side, the Islanders penalty kill kept the Rangers off the board. Jean-Gabriel Pageau played on both sides of the Islanders special teams.

7. Speaking of Jean-Gabriel Pageau, he finally took part in his first win as a member of the Islanders.

8. Adam Pelech didn’t miss a beat on Wednesday. For not having played in an NHL game since Dec. 31, Pelech jumped right back into the lineup seamlessly.

Pelech was second among team defensemen for time on ice, with 15:22.

“He made a couple of good reads, some good exits. He defended well on the penalty kill. He looked set,” Trotz said.