Islanders blank Predators behind Varlamov’s 41 saves

Semyon Varlamov stopped all 41 shots for the host New York Islanders, who took over sole possession of third place in the Metropolitan Division with a 2-0 win over the Nashville Predators in Elmont, N.Y., on Saturday night.

Noah Dobson scored in the second period and Kyle Palmieri scored an empty-netter with 1:19 left for the Islanders (35-27-15), who won their fourth straight game. The win snapped a tie with the Philadelphia Flyers, who fell 6-1 to the Columbus Blue Jackets earlier Saturday.

The Islanders are also two points ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins in the race for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference.

The shutout was the third of the season for Varlamov.

Kevin Lankinen made 28 saves for the Predators (44-29-4), who have lost four of five.

The Predators outshot the Islanders 12-9 in the first and both teams had five shots apiece in the second before Dobson broke the scoreless tie at the 9:07 mark.

Bo Horvat beat Ryan McDonagh to a loose puck in the corner behind the Predators' net and passed to Mathew Barzal, who was surrounded by Nashville left wingers Kiefer Sherwood and Cole Smith but still managed to get the puck to Mike Reilly. The defenseman exchanged cross-ice passes with Dobson before Dobson's shot sailed past the stick of Lankinen, who was screened by New York center Casey Cizikas.

Both teams killed off a penalty later in the second. Lankinen preserved the one-goal deficit by making a sprawling stop of a short-handed shot by Kyle Palmieri with 5:44 left.

The Islanders killed off two penalties in a span of a little more than four minutes bridging the midway point of the third.

Varlamov made five saves on the latter penalty kill, when he used his stick to deflect a shot by Ryan O'Reilly and gloved a shot by Filip Forsberg in a five-second span. Forsberg had a shot into a semi-open net glance off a post with a little under seven minutes left.