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Photo Courtesy Of NHL.com

By: Garrett Haydon | Follow Me On Twitter @thesportsguy97

Pre-Game Notes

Arena: Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, New York

Home: New York Islanders (35-20-8)

Away: Boston Bruins (40-13-12)

New York’s Lineup

Forwards

Lee-Barzal-Eberle

Beauvillier-Nelson-Brassard

Dal Colle-Pageau-Bailey

Martin-Clutterbuck-Komarov

Defense

Greene-Pulock

Toews-Mayfield

Leddy-Boychuk

Goalies

Varlamov

Greiss

Boston’s Lineup

Forwards

Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak

Ritchie-Krejci-Kase

DeBrusk-Coyle-Kuhlman

Kuraly-Lindholm-Nordstrom

Defense

Chara-McAvoy

Krug-Carlo

Grzelcyk-Lauzon

Goalies

Rask

Halak

First Period

Neither team got much going offensively in the early moments thanks to strong defensive play. The B’s struck first as David Pastrnak scored his 47th goal of the season after Patrice Bergeron had a good net drive that took Semyon Varlamov out of the play.

The Bruins continued to be very strong especially in the attacking zone as they looked to extend their lead. The Islanders had a hard time getting the puck out of their zone as the Bruins seemed to be dominating every facet of the game. Boston made it two goals in the period as a shot by Matt Grzelcyk took a big deflection off a body and past Varlamov with about seven minutes to go.

Nick Ritchie took a penalty shortly after the goal as the Islanders got an opportunity to stop the bleeding. The B’s killed off the man advantage as they got a number of good blocked shots and a couple of key stops by Tuukka Rask. The Islanders seemed to get a bit of a jump from the power play as they started to find their skating legs. Pastrnak was called for tripping with about a minute left in the period as the Islanders got another opportunity on the power play. Boston killed the remainder of the period with New York still on the man advantage.

Score: 2-0 Bruins

Second Period

The Bruins killed off the rest of the penalty despite some very good puck movement by the Islanders. The Bruins continued to move the puck incredibly well in every area of the ice as they took the play to the Islanders. New York began to build a bit of momentum with some attacking zone chances but that stopped pretty quickly as the Bruins went to the power play for the first time in the game. The Islanders were called for a high stick during the man advantage which resulted in a five on three situation. New York killed off both penalties despite the Bruins moving the puck fairly well.

Zdeno Chara was called for a slash late in the period as the Islanders got yet another chance to get back into the game. The B’s killed it off yet again as they continued to have a very strong defensive game. Ritchie took another penalty, this time for a cross check as New York got another power play opportunity. The B’s were able to kill off the remainder of the period as the Islanders would only have two seconds of power play time in the final period.

Score: 2-0 Bruins

Third Period

The Islanders had a good push to start the period as they looked to cut into the Boston lead. Rask continued his strong game with a number of big saves to keep New York at bay. The Bruins began to have a lot of trouble manufacturing any offense as New York started to take the play to them. Brad Marchand made it 3-0 for Boston on a wrap around goal about midway through the period.

After a bit of scrum, Pastrnak was called for roughing resulting in a power play for New York as they got another opportunity to score on the man advantage. The Islanders were called for a penalty midway through the power play, resulting in a four on four. Charlie McAvoy made it a four goal lead with a bomb from the point on the man advantage with under four minutes left.

Jeremy Lauzon was called for a penalty with about a minute to go as he went off for holding. As a fitting end to the game, the Bruins killed off the remainder of the period as Rask picked up his fourth shutout of the year.

Final Score: 4-0 Bruins

Three Stars Of The Game

First Star: McAvoy

Second Star: Rask

Third Star: Pasternak

Check out the new Black N’ Gold Hockey Podcast episode 167 that we recorded below! You can find our show on many worldwide platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, iHeart Radio, Spotify, SoundCloud, and Stitcher.

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