Islanders defeat Rangers in exhibition game in NHL return

Semyon Varlamov made 19 saves in two periods, and the New York Islanders defeated the New York Rangers 2-1 in an exhibition game at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Wednesday.

Varlamov started for the Islanders and made 12 saves in the first period and seven in the second, including a stacked pad stop to cap a three-save sequence on Rangers forward Jesper Fast at 4:32.

Thomas Greiss faced eight shots in the third period and made seven saves.

"My goaltending is in good shape," Islanders coach Barry Trotz said.

Trotz, though, hasn't announced who will start in Game 1 of the best-of-5 Stanley Cup Qualifiers against the Florida Panthers on Saturday at Scotiabank Arena (4 p.m. ET; NBCSN, NHL.TV, SN1, TVAS, MSG+, FS-F).

The Islanders are the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference; the Panthers are the 10th seed. The winner of the series will advance to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

"I have the luxury of starting either one [of the goalies] Game 1," Trotz said. "I could throw a little bit of a dart to the dart board and I'd feel pretty comfortable. ... Our defense is deep and our forwards, I liked the pace they played at today."

Devon Toews scored the game-winning goal with 4:25 remaining in the third period.

Igor Shesterkin made six saves for the Rangers before allowing Anthony Beauvillier's goal that gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead at 9:15 of the second period. It was the last shot he faced.

Henrik Lundqvist relieved Shesterkin, following the plan to play the second half of the game. He made 14 saves, allowing the goal to Toews that gave the Islanders a 2-0 lead.

Filip Chytil scored for the Rangers with 3:38 left in the third period to make it 2-1.

The Rangers outshot the Islanders 27-22, but the Islanders had three more total shot attempts (46-43) and won 35 of 56 face-offs (62.5 percent).

"I thought it was a mixed bag," Rangers coach David Quinn said. "I liked our start. I thought we had a good pace. Our penalty kill was good. But I thought as the game went on we got a little bit frustrated."

Quinn said he thought the Islanders did a good job of bottling up the Rangers in the neutral zone in the second half of the game, stifling their transition game. The Rangers had 18 of their 27 shots on goal in the first 25 minutes.

The Rangers, the No. 11 seed in the East, play the Carolina Hurricanes, the No. 6 seed, in the Qualifiers. Game 1 is Saturday (Noon ET; NBCSN, NHL.TV, SN, SN360, TVAS, MSG, FS-CR) in Toronto, the Eastern Conference hub city.

"When it's 0-0 maybe 28 minutes into the game and you've had the puck and you've had some looks and the game is going relatively the way you want it to but you haven't capitalized on some chances, you can't all of a sudden get frustrated and start forcing the play," Quinn said. "You have to keep playing hard hockey. We've got to make sure that we do it for 60 minutes and we can't let frustration get in our way."

Beauvillier beat Shesterkin with a blocker-side wrist shot from the left circle after taking a stretch pass from Andy Greene at the blue line to give the Islanders the lead. He backed in on a 2-on-1 with Brock Nelson before turning and shooting.

"I thought Beau was really dangerous," Trotz said. "Obviously, his speed, he was on pucks, he scored the goal. I thought he was quite engaged."

Toews scored with a far side shot from the right circle after skating onto a flip pass into the zone from Derick Brassard. Chytil scored on a rebound from the slot.

The Islanders held the Rangers to one more shot on goal, none after Lundqvist was pulled for an extra skater with 2:29 remaining in the third period.

"It's playoff hockey now and they're going to be tight games," Greene said. "Not a lot of time and space out there, and it's obviously something that we're as a team very comfortable playing in. We've got to be comfortable and get comfortable playing in those types of situations going into the weekend and beyond."

Rangers defenseman Marc Staal was held out of the third period for precautionary reasons, Quinn said, after playing 15 shifts totaling 11:08 in the first two periods. Quinn said he is not in jeopardy of missing Game 1 against Carolina.

"You just want to cut your teeth going into that first game of the series," Rangers forward Chris Kreider said. "At the end of the day, losing this one isn't the worst thing in the world. We're a bunch of very competitive athletes and in the grand scheme of things this one really does not matter, and I can tell you that guys are a little [ticked] off and a little angry right now after that one. Never like losing to the Islanders. Having a chip on our shoulders going into the first playoff round is not a bad thing."

NHL.com deputy managing editor Brian Compton contributed to this report