Frankly this one was a battle of goaltenders, and Semyon Varlamov’s slow start was enough to sink an otherwise fantastic performance in Game 2. Tristan Jarry rebounded well from getting his glove side lit up in Game 1, though Pittsburgh also played better defensively and took advantage of a sloppy Islanders performance, especially from the defense. A lot of missed passes, flubbed pucks, and poor clearances limited the Isles’ ability to break out, and those kinds of mistakes are series changers.
That said, Varlamov’s ability to bounce back after giving up a clunker is impressive, and going on to save 43 shots can’t be underrated.