Maccelli Scores Twice, Varlamov Returns, and the Islanders Take a Small Breath

Matias Maccelli put two goals past the Rangers on Tuesday, and Semyon Varlamov was back in net for the exhibition. Both things happened. Neither one fixes the injury list, but they are worth noting as the first real evidence that the healthy pieces of this roster can still do something useful when asked.

Maccelli acknowledged afterward that it was just the preseason, which is the right thing to say. The goals mattered anyway — his fit with this group had been a quiet question all offseason, and a one-year signing needs to show something early to quiet the skeptics. He showed something. Varlamov's return carried its own weight, less about the stat line and more about the simple fact of him being upright and in the crease after a stretch that has seen the Islanders lose their leading scorer, both top defensive partners, and several depth forwards before a meaningful game has been played.

The math underneath all of this remains uncomfortable. The team has been scoring well below where it was a year ago and giving up considerably more than it should, and Barzal — 42 points in 50 games last season, the engine of everything — is still off skates. Bo Horvat will carry the offensive load as long as he has to, but that arrangement has a ceiling.

So: Maccelli scored, Varlamov looked okay, and the Rangers game went to the right side of the ledger. The next few weeks will tell us whether any of that matters.