\u201clike the old Varly.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n\u201cI\u2019ve been there, it\u2019s not the first time [in that kind of game],\u201d Varlamov said. \u201cIt hasn\u2019t been for a while. There\u2019s a lot of, I wouldn\u2019t say new things, but just different moments for me, going to OT and experiencing the shootout. I haven\u2019t been in that position for a while.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
In his second start of the season, Varlamov looked markedly better than his first, gaining more command of his crease as the night went on and making a terrific reaction save on Stephen Halliday in the second period.\u00a0<\/p>\n
New York Islanders goaltender Semyon Varlamov (40) makes a save against Ottawa Senators\u2019 Drake Batherson (19) as Islanders\u2019 Logan Stanley (8) defends during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Ottawa, Ontario, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026. Justin Tang\/The Canadian Press via AP<\/p>\n
This, though, was one of those nights that even when the Islanders were doing things right, pucks seemed to find a way of bouncing off their sticks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They hung on for life through chunks of a second period in which they took three penalties and the game got dangerously open, with Ridly Greig\u2019s finish from Warren Foegele \u2014 left completely unmarked to receive Artem Zub\u2019s stretch pass at the Islanders blue line \u2014 the only damage.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Again, that was thanks in no small part to Varlamov, who made sure the Islanders penalty kill was flawless despite struggling to disrupt Ottawa\u2019s puck movement.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ottawa Senators\u2019 Ridly Greig, second from right, celebrates with Michael Amadio (22) and Warren Foegele (37) after scoring against New York Islanders goaltender Semyon Varlamov (40) during the second period in Ottawa, Ontario, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026. Justin Tang\/The Canadian Press via AP<\/p>\n
Given the gift of a 1-1 score entering the last 20 minutes, the Islanders had every chance to walk out of Canadian Tire Centre with at least a point.\u00a0<\/p>\n
DeBoer made a series of changes to his forward lines to try to ensure it. Cal Ritchie and Anthony Duclair, both struggling, were dropped to the fourth line while Simon Holmstrom was moved up to the third and Emil Heineman to the second, where Brayden Schenn shifted to center.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That did have the effect of reinforcing the Islanders\u2019 structure, and the third was a good display of physical, tight-checking hockey by both teams.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOn the ice from Long Island\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Islanders by Ethan Sears, a weekly Sports+ exclusive.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\u201cWe weren\u2019t trying to be too cute. We were getting back to our game,\u201d Bo Horvat told The Post. \u201cForechecking hard and started turning pucks over.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was enough to get the Islanders a point, but they couldn\u2019t end it there \u2014 even after getting a four-on-three power play that immediately followed a successful penalty kill.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt sucks that my stick broke there,\u201d Horvat said. \u201cThey kinda had three-on-three at the end, me going back to get my stick. It happens.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
New York Islanders\u2019 Bo Horvat (14) reacts after scoring against the Ottawa Senators during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Ottawa, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026. Justin Tang\/The Canadian Press via AP<\/p>\n
The Islanders went oh-fer in the ensuing shootout and were left to rue their missed opportunities.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Matias Maccelli was a bright spot along with Varlamov, opening the scoring with 12 seconds left in the first by picking Pinto\u2019s pocket at the blue line and burying it. Jean-Gabriel Pageau\u2019s line \u2014 with varying combinations of wingers \u2014 was the only one that consistently managed to break the puck out against Ottawa\u2019s forecheck.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was mainly thanks to instant replay \u2014 and a good challenge by DeBoer on Halliday\u2019s would-be goal \u2014 that Ottawa didn\u2019t grab an early lead. Both overturned goals beat Varlamov short side, a potentially worrisome trend given it\u2019s not the first time his reaction time has looked susceptible since returning.\u00a0<\/p>\n
By the end of the night, Varlamov had quelled any worries about his play.\u00a0<\/p>\n
New York Islanders goaltender Semyon Varlamov (40) tends net as Brayden Schenn (10) looks on against Ottawa Senators\u2019 Ridly Greig (71) during the first period of an NHL hockey game at Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, Ontario, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026. NHLI via Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cThat has to be the hardest position to come back from an extended absence because so much of it is timing and seeing the puck compared to a forward or a defenseman,\u201d DeBoer said. \u201cAnd you can\u2019t replicate game action in practice either for that.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe saw game one, he got through [against] the Rangers. I thought he was pretty good. Tonight, he looked like the old Varly. It\u2019s great to see, and it\u2019s great for us because we\u2019re gonna need him.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OTTAWA \u2014 Semyon Varlamov did everything in his power Thursday night to earn his first win after two…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":688048,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5110],"tags":[5,122,3328,159,5190,5189,4,25,6235,43],"class_list":["post-688047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-islanders","tag-hockey","tag-islanders","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-islanders","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkislanders","tag-nhl","tag-ottawa-senators","tag-semyon-varlamov","tag-sports"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/117449408114792543","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=688047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688047\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/688048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=688047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=688047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=688047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}