Bigger picture, none of this would have been possible without Tuukka Rask (7-8-2) remembering who he was and how he could still consistently perform in the NHL. He was named the first star of the game after making 30 mostly routine saves. He has won his last four starts and in the last five games (he appeared in relief for Anton Khudobin on Monday in Nashville), he has allowed just five goals with a 1.10 goals against average and .955 save percentage. As Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy alluded to after the contest, the Black and Gold are at their best when Rask brings his A-game.
After a sleepy and scoreless first period, Bruins rookie Jake DeBrusk brought some energy to the Garden as he dropped the gloves for his first NHL fight with Islanders forward Casey Cizikas. Charlie McAvoy had been rocked by a clean Cizikas hit which still led to DeBrusk taking exception to it. Somewhere his dad-former NHL goon Louie DeBrusk-must have smiled and cracked his burly knuckles. New York had come in 10-0-0 when they scored the first goal so the Bruins were smart to grab the first tally. Brad Marchand (5-game point streak) scored a somewhat weak power play goal that Islanders goaltender Jaroslav Halak (30 saves) should have squeezed his pads tighter on. Torey Krug and David Pastrnak (8-game point streak) assisted on Marchand's 11th goal of the season.
Between an instigator penalty, not to mention his fighting major and 10-minute misconduct, DeBrusk had to ride an exercise bike in the Bruins' locker room for an excessive amount of time. No worries though as he potted a huge insurance goal at 6:45 of the third period. With his back to the Islanders goal, he spun around and fired a hard, high shot for his sixth goal of the season. Just like before, Krug and Pastrnak had the helpers. All that was missing from a Gordie Howe hat trick was an assist but sadly, it would have to wait for another time. Rask looked poised to notch his second shutout of the week but New York scored right after a power play had ended for them. Anders Lee (17th goal of the season) tapped in a feed from Josh Bailey (27th assist!) & gifted rookie Mathew Barzal at 16:52 to cut it to 2-1 B's. Rookie Danton Heinen sealed it for Boston with an empty-netter at 19:18, his sixth goal of the season was assisted by Patrice Bergeron (5 assists in his last 4 games).
There were two interesting penalties called on the Bruins in the third period: Marchand was tagged with a five-minute major for interference on his Team Canada homie John Tavares and David Backes apparently head-butted Andrew Ladd which also resulted in an obscure five-minute major. Marchand's hit was high and pretty iffy so given his checkered past with dirty plays, I wouldn't be surprised if he hears from the league about it. As far as Backes, nobody (outside of the refs) really noticed what had transpired along the boards and needless to say, that would be very out of character for a tough but honest player like himself.
This is a very favorable stretch for the Bruins in terms of tons of home games (6 of their remaining 10 tilts in December are here) where they currently own a 9-4-2 record. They earned a day off from practice tomorrow and they'll be back at Warrior Ice Arena for practice on Monday as they get ready for Wednesday's (8, NBC Sports) "Rivalry Night" matchup in Detroit (11-13-5). The Red Wings are still the definition of mediocre so that's a contest that they should win. On Thursday (7, NESN) they host the Capitals which promises to be a much harder battle. They close out next week against the Rangers (16-11-2) on Saturday (5, NESN) at the Garden. After such a turbulent start to the campaign, the B's are settling in nicely as a team and the mix of so many young guys and notable veterans is beginning to yield many positive results.
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