By: Jeff Playdon | Follow me @PlaydonJeff
February 17th, 2011, the Boston Bruins visited the New York Islanders in the Nassau Stadium and looked to rebound from a loss taken by the Toronto Maple Leafs. In a game that saw Mikhail Grabovski score with just over a minute left, the Bruins were scratching their heads. The Bruins came into this game 31-19-7, still sitting around the top of the conference, while the Islanders, who were 21-29-7, were sitting around the bottom and looking to steal a win from Boston. The starting goaltenders for the game was the young Tuukka Rask facing Nathan Lawson.
Bruins look to Bounce Back
1st Period Summary
Going into the first period, the Bruins wanted to come out firing on all cylinders, and they did exactly that. Only 1:52 into the game, right-winger Blake Winger netted a goal and gave Boston a 1-0 lead. The assists would go to rookie Tyler Seguin and Andrew Ference. Nine seconds later, Adam McQuaid and Zenon Konopka decided to drop the gloves and fight. Both would go to the box for fighting majors, and the game went on. Momentum would stay on Boston’s side for the first period as Mark Recchi would score his 11th goal of the season 7:03 into the first, and then two minutes later, Gregory Campbell made it a 3-0 Bruins lead. It was not even halfway through the first period, and Boston ran the Islanders out of their own building. The Islanders would escape the first period trailing 3-0, but Boston was on fire.
2nd Period Summary
The Bruins would start the second period just how they played in the first period, and that was scorching hot and on fire. Just 55 seconds into the second period forward, David Krejci made it 4-0 Boston, and it wasn’t looking pleasant for the Islanders. About a minute later in the period, there looked to be some hope for the Islanders as forward John Tavares finally put the Islanders on the board, and now it was only a 4-1 Boston lead. The Islanders would manage to give the goal right back to Boston as Tyler Seguin would net his tenth goal of the season, and now it was 5-1 Boston.
With Boston having a scoring cornucopia against the Islanders, head coach Jack Capuano was forced to pull goaltender Nathan Lawson and substitute in Al Montoya. 5:36 into the period, Josh Bailey scored off of Blake Comeau’s second assist of the game and made it just a 5-2 Boston lead. The Islanders did not have an answer for Boston’s scoring, and with the Islanders having too many men on the ice, the Bruins would go on the powerplay 7:10 into the second. Seven seconds into the powerplay, Milan Lucic would score and get his 24th goal of the season.
3rd Period Summary
Going into the third, the Islanders hoped to claw back from a 6-2 deficit, but that did not look promising. While the first and second periods had plenty of highlights, the third period was nowhere near that. In fact, the only highlight in the third period was a John Tavares goal 12:57 into the game, giving him his 23rd of the year and second of the night. Boston would hold on to the three-goal lead and win the game 6-3. Goaltender Tuukka Rask saved 34 shots on 37 shots, and Boston would improve to 32-19-7 on the season and continue a six-game road trip by visiting the Ottawa Senators the next day.
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