The New York Islanders beat the Boston Bruins 1-0 at Nassau Coliseum on Jan. 18. JG Pageau batted home the game-winner with under five minutes to play in the third period and Semyon Varlamov made 27 saves in the shutout win. It was New York’s (2-1-0) first home win against Boston (1-1-1) since 2013.

Pageau’s first of the season came from a broken play. Adam Pelech took a shot from the point that was blocked by Patrice Bergeron. The puck popped straight up in the air and Pageau batted it home out of mid-air. “Obviously, it was nice to score that goal,” Pageau said. “It was a great play by Pelly getting the puck to the net. … It was a great effort the whole game. I thought we played an OK first period, then we came back in the second and in the third we showed a lot of character. We played playoff hockey and we stuck with it, and that’s why we came out on top.”

The first two periods were scoreless but not without their chances. Boston had 11 shots in the first 20 minutes, including a few from high-danger areas. Semyon Varlamov, getting the start after an injury in warmups forced him to miss Saturday’s game against the Rangers, was sharp to keep the Bruins off the board. The Islanders put three pucks on Tuukka Rask who made 16 stops overall.

The Islanders had a better second period and led in the shot department 7-6 but neither team scored. The Bruins and Islanders went 0/6 on the power play combined in the first two frames.

The third period was New York’s best. Mat Barzal hit the crossbar on an early power play and Anthony Beauvillier’s breakaway chance was turned aside by Rask. After Boston controlled the first 20 minutes and parts of the second, the Islanders took over in the third and finally broke through.

Varlamov became the first Islander goaltender, and 14th in NHL history, to begin the season with two-straight shutouts. He also broke Rick DiPietro’s club record for minutes without allowing a goal to begin a season. “I just think he’s really calm,” coach Barry Trotz said. “I think that’s the No. 1 thing is he’s really calm. You look around the League, when goalies are playing really well what you’ll find is there’s a calmness to them. It’s no different than probably a baseball hitter seeing the ball; it’s coming in fairly big to them and seeing it in slow motion.”

The Islanders welcome in the New Jersey Devils on Thursday, Jan. 21. New Jersey began its season with two games against the Bruins.

John Smark