Monday, August 24, 2020 07:00 PM (ET)

Varlamov, Isles shut out Flyers in series opener

Field Level Media
Aug 24, 2020

Andy Greene, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Anders Lee and Devon Toews each scored a goal to lift the New York Islanders past the Philadelphia Flyers 4-0 in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series on Monday in Toronto.

Islanders goaltender Semyon Varlamov made all 29 saves and pushed his shutout streak to 136 minutes, 20 seconds.

Game 2 of the best-of-seven series will be played Wednesday afternoon.

Philadelphia goaltender Carter Hart stopped 25 shots.

The top-seeded Flyers scored only 11 goals against the Montreal Canadiens in the East quarterfinals despite claiming the series in six games.

The sixth-seeded Islanders jumped ahead 1-0 at 6:06 of the first period when Greene sent a shot through traffic for his first goal of the postseason.

Less than two minutes later, Philadelphia's Kevin Hayes skated in all alone but was unable to take a clean shot, and Varlamov cleared the puck.

New York dominated the opening 20 minutes and led 15-4 in shots on goal on its way to a one-goal advantage.

The Flyers came out aggressive in the second and ripped off the first nine shots on goal but couldn't score.

Greene nearly notched his second goal at 9:24 as his wrist shot ricocheted off Hart's pad before being frozen in front.

The Flyers had a flurry of chances in the final 1:30 of the period, but a combination of stingy defense and a couple of solid saves by Varlamov sent New York into the locker room still with a 1-0 lead.

The Islanders extended their lead to 2-0 when Pageau found himself wide open in front and flicked the puck past Hart at 2:54 of the third. It was Pageau's fifth goal of the playoffs.

Philadelphia captain Claude Giroux clanged a shot off the post several minutes later, and he appeared visibly frustrated.

The Islanders took advantage, and Mathew Barzal sent a perfect pass to Lee, who connected for a 3-0 lead at 8:50.

New York scored an empty-net goal to go ahead 4-0 when Toews came through at 12:21. The Flyers took a chance by pulling Hart with plenty of time remaining.

--Field Level Media

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