Varlamov makes 21 saves, Islanders shut out Blackhawks

Semyon Varlamov made 21 saves, and the New York Islanders scored three goals in the second period to defeat the Chicago Blackhawks 3-0 at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York, on Sunday.

It was Varlamov's first shutout of the season and 37th the NHL.
"It was an important win for us," Varlamov said. "I thought we played great hockey. I was able to make some saves, like in the first period, so I thought that gave me confidence and gave the team confidence. We came out really strong in the second period, played well and created a lot of scoring chances.
"We were able to score some goals. It was nice to play with a lead."

Matt Martin, Zach Parise and Brock Nelson scored for the Islanders (16-10-0), who had lost two straight.
Arvid Soderblom made 37 saves for the Blackhawks (7-13-4), who have lost nine of 10 (1-8-1).
"He made some great reads and some big saves and stood tall right to the end," Chicago coach Luke Richardson said of Soderblom. "He's been great in every appearance that he's been in. We've just got to give him a little more goal support and a little better structure in front of him."
Martin put New York ahead 1-0 at 8:58 of the second, scoring on a rebound off a shot from Casey Cizikas while battling with Filip Roos.
However, despite raising his hands while on the ice, play continued for 1:58 before a stoppage allowed the officials to review the sequence, which determined that the puck completely crossed the goal line after hitting Soderblom's pad.
It was the first even-strength goal the Islanders had scored in 175:37.
"I was laying on my back and I thought it was in," Martin said. "I was pretty confident it was in. Where the ref was, he was on the side of the net, so he probably couldn't tell. Play was going on, came to the bench, told the coaches it was in. They're like, 'Yeah, yeah.' But they looked at it and then they were confident it was in as well."

Parise made it 2-0 at 14:31 when he deflected a shot from Adam Pelech five-hole from in front.
Nelson then scored 43 seconds later to extend the lead to 3-0, shooting high glove side with a one-timer off a pass from Anthony Beauvillier. Nelson has three goals and two assists on a five-game point streak.
"Certainly, I thought the guys did a great job of getting to the net, having traffic in front. We were rewarded for it," Islanders coach Lane Lambert said. "We felt like we could be a little bit better heading into the second. I give my players full credit. They came out and, I would say, turned it up a little bit."

Jack Johnson could have given Chicago the lead on a wrist shot off a rebound from Patrick Kane at 16:19 of the first period, but Varlamov pushed to his right to make a sprawling blocker save.
"Didn't get pucks deep, didn't get pucks on net. A lot of didn'ts tonight in my eyes," Blackhawks defenseman Connor Murphy said. "It's frustrating. Just not supporting each other across the ice. You can say what you want about that middle of the game, kind of weird goal that was called and kind of turned the page, but we didn't really respond. Just disappointing."
Boris Katchouk also had a chance to put Chicago ahead at 2:17 of the second period, but his backhand off a face-off win hit the post and deflected back through Varlamov's five-hole before being cleared.
"It's not one thing, it's a bunch of mistakes, like any loss," Blackhawks forward Colin Blackwell said. "The cluster of goals is obviously the biggest part. Those three goals, to give up the one is OK, (but) we can't let that turn into a bunch of shifts being poor that lead to more goals."
NOTES:Varlamov's shutout was his 12th for the Islanders. Only Glenn Resch (25), Billy Smith (22), Rick DiPietro (16) and Tommy Salo (14) have more in their history. … New York outshot Chicago 20-6 in the second period. … Soderblom started after making five saves in the third period of a 5-2 win against the New York Rangers on Saturday. He came into that game for Petr Mrazek, who left because of a groin injury. … Beauvillier's assist on Nelson's goal was his 200th NHL point.