By Mike Cratty | Follow me on Twitter @Mike_Cratty
Boston’s Lineup
Forwards
Marchand – Bergeron – DeBrusk
Ritchie – Krejci – Studnicka
Bjork – Coyle – Smith
Frederic – Kuraly – Wagner
Defense
Lauzon – McAvoy
Grzelcyk – Carlo
Zboril – Miller
Goalies
Rask
Halak
New York’s Lineup
Forwards
Lee – Barzal – Eberle
Beauvillier – Nelson – Bailey
Bellows – Pageau – Johnston
Martin – Cizikas – Clutterbuck
Defense
Pelech – Pulock
Leddy – Mayfield
Greene – Dobson
Goalies
Varlamov
Sorokin
First Period
It was about as standard of a start to the game as we could have gotten until Brandon Carlo took the game’s first penalty, a cross-checking minor at the 12:35 mark. Luckily, it was killed off with ease. The offensive tempo started to pick up for the Bruins around the halfway point of the period, which was definitely encouraging to see in a slow start to the season offensively.
The first Bruins power play came in the form of an interference call against Casey Cizikas with 3:20 to go. They couldn’t get anything going and the game remained scoreless as a result. It was a pretty lackluster period in terms of great excitement, but an encouraging one for the Bruins with improved pace and cohesiveness, so that was good. Shots in the period were 11 to three in their favor.
Score: 0-0
Second Period
An interesting start to the second period for the Bruins came in the form of a holding penalty on Adam Pelech. Just 50 seconds into it, Nick Ritchie went off for a slashing penalty, creating a 4-on-4. The Islanders made things interesting with the extra space to work with, but couldn’t convert.
Fast forward later, and the Islanders found themselves shorthanded again, this time for a too-many-men on the ice infraction. It was all penalties and not a lot else early in this game. Craig Smith was next for goaltender interference with 4:15 to go. Jack Studnicka nearly found Sean Kuraly for the game’s first goal on a shorthanded 2-on-1, and the Bruins eventually killed the penalty.
The stalemate made its way into the third period. While the Islanders generated more on offense this time around, the Bruins generated less. It was definitely a more even period than the first. Shots in the period were seven to six, bringing the game total to 17 to ten.
Score: 0-0
Third Period
Brad Marchand took an early penalty for cross checking just a minute and 17 seconds into the period, and Matthew Barzal made things interesting, ringing one of the pipe. Other than that, not much else worth noting happened, and even strength play eventually resumed.
Matt Grzelcyk and Jordan Eberle got caught up with one another along the boards, Grzelcyk took the brute of the encounter and was hurt on the fall. He left the ice to be evaluated after getting to his feet and favoring his right arm. A 4-on-4 ensued for the next two minutes, but no one cashed in, again.
The game’s biggest save, by far, came in the form of Tuukka Rask denying Anthony Beauvillier on a breakaway. Josh Bailey set it all up with a flip pass that Beauvillier snuck behind Jeremy Lauzon and grabbed, but no dice.
The ice finally broke late off of a batted puck by Jean-Gabriel Pageau out front with 4:09 to go. To make matters worse, Charlie McAvoy went off for holding just 16 seconds later. Rask was pulled at the 1:35 mark for the extra attacker, and a timeout was called by Bruce Cassidy with 51.4 to go.
Nothing worked in this one. Every Islanders game this year has been a shutout one-way, that trend continued here. While the Bruins definitely looked better at times, they still struggled to score at 5-on-5, and in general. Tuukka Rask played very well, so at least that was nice. The shots were ten to seven in their favor, and 27 to 17 overall. The Bruins are 1-1-1.
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