New York Rangers vs New York Islanders Match Player Stats On May 01, 2021

The New York Islanders made their final scheduled game against their arch-rivals in Uniondale, N.Y., a memorable one Saturday night, when Anthony Beauvillier scored twice, goalie Semyon Varlamov extended his shutout streak to a team-record 213 minutes, 56 seconds, and they clinched a playoff berth with a 3-0 win over the New York Rangers .

The playoff berth is the third straight for the Islanders (31-15-5, 67 points), their longest streak since qualifying for the postseason each season from 2001-02 through 2003-04. The Islanders are in third place in the East Division.

Mathew Barzal also scored for the Islanders, while Varlamov made 28 saves in blanking the Rangers for the second time in three nights and earning his NHL-high seventh shutout while breaking Chico Resch's franchise record for longest shutout streak (178:26 during the 1975-76 season). Varlamov hasn't been scored on since April 20 against the Rangers.

The loss Saturday all but eliminated the Rangers (26-20-6, 58 points) from playoff contention and almost ensured the next time the teams play on Long Island will be this fall, when the Islanders are scheduled to move into UBS Arena at the Queens/Nassau border.

Goalie Alexandar Georgiev recorded 22 saves Saturday for the Rangers, who have four games to play and are eight points behind the fourth-place Boston Bruins (30-14-6, 66 points), who have six games left.

Beauvillier opened the scoring 4:39 into the first, when he streaked into the right faceoff circle, took a pass from Josh Bailey (three assists) and fired a shot beyond Georgiev's stick.

A pass by Bailey tipped off the skates of Rangers defenseman Brendan Smith and to Barzal, who already had a head of steam as he raced through the neutral zone before going to the backhand to beat the sprawling Georgiev with 3:38 left in the period.

Another end-to-end rush resulted in Beauvillier's second goal just 62 seconds into the middle period. Bailey, at the Rangers' blue line, took a clearing pass from Nick Leddy and shoved the puck ahead to Brock Nelson. The center passed to Beauvillier, who negotiated a shot around K'Andre Miller and off the far post.

--Field Level Media