Islanders shut out Flyers in Game 1 of Eastern Second Round

Semyon Varlamov made 29 saves for the New York Islanders in a 4-0 win against the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Second Round at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Monday.

It was Varlamov's second consecutive shutout, after he made 21 saves in a 4-0 win against the Washington Capitals in Game 5 of the first round. He has a shutout streak of 136:20, second-longest during the Stanley Cup Playoffs in Islanders history after Billy Smith had a streak of 136:59 in 1980.
Varlamov is the first Islanders goalie with consecutive shutouts in the playoffs.
"We're playing well defensively," Varlamov said. "The guys play unbelievable again today in front of me. ... It feels good to get back-to-back shutouts, but at this point it's not about shutouts. It's playoff hockey; the most important thing for me is to get the win and get ready for the next game."
WATCH: [All Islanders vs. Flyers highlights]
Andy Greene, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Anders Lee and Devon Toews scored for New York, the No. 6 seed.
Teams that win Game 1 are 485-220 (68.7 percent) winning a best-of-7 NHL playoff series, including a 7-1 record in the first round this season.
Game 2 is in Toronto, the East hub city, is Wednesday (3 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN, TVAS).
Carter Hart made 25 saves for Philadelphia, the No. 1 seed.
"They were the better team in the first. We were the better team in the second and couldn't find a way to capitalize on some of our real good looks," Flyers coach Alain Vigneault said. "I believe if we get the same looks, sooner or later we'll be able to put the puck in the net. But the third period got a little bit away from us. We lost a couple of battles that they were able to capitalize on."

Greene made it 1-0 with a slap shot from the blue line at 6:06. It was the defensemen's first playoff goal since April 16, 2010, against the Flyers as a member of the New Jersey Devils.
He also led the Islanders with four blocked shots in 18:37 of ice time, including with 1:31 left in the first period, shooting his right leg out on the rush to get his skate blade on a Travis Konecny one-timer from in close.
"The goal, got to the middle, I saw a shot lane, put that through," Greene said. "The other one, I can't let that pass get through, and then once it did then it's desperation mode and I got lucky."
Greene was acquired in a trade with the Devils on Feb. 16 and played 10 games before the season was paused. He entered the lineup in Game 2 against the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup Qualifiers.
"Greene is solid back there, such a veteran presence," Lee said. "He's been around, he's seen a lot, played in a ton of big games. His experience has been extremely valuable for us and our [defense] corps. ... And tonight to get us going, that was huge."
After making four saves in the first period, Varlamov made 25 in the final two, including 15 in the second.
"I feel like I haven't done anything really special so far," Varlamov said. "I just play the game. It happens now that I get back-to-back shutouts, but it's amazing the play in front of me. But I've already moved on from this game and looking forward to playing the next one."

Konecny, the Flyers' regular-season leader with 24 goals, led them in Game 1 with four shots on goal. But along with Kevin Hayes (23), Sean Couturier (22), Claude Giroux (21) and James van Riemsdyk (19), Philadelphia's top five goal-scorers have combined for one postseason goal, by Hayes, in 10 games. Van Riemsdyk was scratched from Game 1.
"The top players have got to play better," said Giroux, who had two shots. "I'm obviously one of them and I've got to get going here."
Pageau scored to make it 2-0 at 2:54 of the third period. Leo Komarov won a battle along the end boards and centered the puck for a one-timer from in front. Lee made it 3-0 at 8:50 when he finished a rush play set up by Mathew Barzal.
Toews scored an empty-net goal at 12:21 to make it 4-0.
NOTES: It's the first playoff series between the Flyers and Islanders since the 1987 Patrick Division Final, won by Philadelphia in seven games. ... Greene (37 years, 299 days) is the second-oldest Islanders player to score a postseason goal, after Ed Westfall (38 years, 215 days) who scored in Game 4 of the 1979 NHL Quarterfinals. Greene is the 10th player in NHL history to go 10-plus years between playoff goals. ... The Islanders allowed fewer than 30 shots on goal for the 10th straight playoff game, a New York record. They had done it in nine straight in 1981 and 1982.
NHL.com staff writer Tom Gulitti contributed to this report