Varlamov was scheduled to start Saturday but took a puck up high in warmups and ended up not playing. Head coach Barry Trotz said that both Varlamov and Ilya Sorokin are available to start on Monday but did not name a starter. We will get confirmation once warmups start at 4:30 PM ET.
Nick Robertson was hurt over the weekend and is expected to miss some time, so Engvall comes up from the AHL and should be in the lineup on Monday evening. The 24-year-old Engvall had eight goals and seven assists (15 points) in 48 games with the Maple Leafs last season.
DeAngelo had a tough game on Thursday and took undisciplined penalties so he will sit in the second game of the season but head coach David Quinn said “he’ll be back in the lineup soon.” Brendan Smith will replace DeAngelo on the Rangers’ blueline and Adam Fox will be on PP1.
In his first year with the Islanders, Varlamov went 19-14-6 with a 2.62 GAA, .914 SV% and two shutouts in 45 appearances (39 starts). In year-2, Varlamov will be pressured by rookie netminder Ilya Sorokin but he is still expected to start the majority of games as long as he's healthy and playing well. He was 0-2-1 with an ugly 4.64 GAA and .857 SV% in three games vs. the Rangers last year.
Barzal debuted in Islanders' camp on Saturday, fresh off of a three-year contract extension. The 23-year-old centre had 19 goals and 41 assists (60 points) in 68 games a season ago and has averaged 14 goals and 36 assists (50 points) per 56-games over the last three years. Given the depth at the position, Barzal is a strong No.2 fantasy centre now that he'll be there for the start of the 2021 season.
In his first full season in the NHL, Soucy produced seven goals and seven assists (14 points) in 55 games. The 6-foot-4 defenseman has never been a big point producer, so that 21-point per 82-game pace is probably close to his ceiling moving forward. He can play a physical brand of hockey though, ranking second among Wild defensemen in Hits/60 (4.81).
Varlamov gave up two goals on 21 shots in the Islanders 2-1 loss in Game 2. The Isles did a much better job limiting the Lightning than they did in the blowout loss in Game 1 but they let Nikita Kucherov get loose in the final 10 second and ended up losing. Varlamov is 0-3 in his last three starts while giving up 11 goals on 84 shots (.869 SV%).
