Karma Has Caught Up to the Bruins Over the Last Few Weeks As They Drop Another Winnable Game

When the Bruins (21-7-8) got off to such an unexpectedly great start to this season, one of the main reasons was that they kept finding ways to pull out wins and points from games that they probably should have lost. The exact opposite has happened lately as they have lost seven of their last eight games, including a 3-2 setback to the Islanders (23-8-2) in a shootout tonight at TD Garden. By the way, can the B's just refuse to play in overtime (where they are 2-3 this season) or especially in shootouts (where they fell to an unfathomable 0-5 in 2019-20)? Anything past regulation for them seems like a waste of their time.

Like their 4-3 overtime loss to the Kings (15-18-4) on Tuesday that kicked off this four-game homestand before Christmas, the Bruins dominated the Islanders in terms of shot attempts (62-45) but putting them on net was another story as they had 19 blocked and 14 missed the net so they only registered eight more shots on goal (29-21) than New York. Furthermore, Boston scored first as Anders Bjork had a wrist shot that went top shelf on Semyon Varlamov (27 saves, 12-3-2) at 1:58 of the first period. Charlie Coyle (his first point in 8 games) had the lone assist on Bjork's fifth goal of the season. The B's nearly doubled their lead as Danton Heinen's redirect on a power play went off the post. The teams combined for a sleepy seven shots on goal (4-3 Isles) in the first 20 minutes, yawn.

The low-scoring, tight-checking style favored the Islanders and they grabbed a lead with a pair of goals in the second period. Old friend Johnny Boychuk tied it with a blast from the point (I'm assuming that NESN's maniac announcer Jack Edwards called it a Johnny Rocket for old time's sake) that beat former teammate Tuukka Rask (19 saves, 13-4-5) at 3:26. Jordan Eberle and Anders Lee had the assists on Boychuk's second goal of the season. Varlamov made two huge stops in that frame, including a spectacular diving glove save on Bjork's one-timer followed by a save on Jake DeBrusk's breakaway. As those things seem to often go in hockey, New York took advantage on the other end as Mathew Barzal ripped in a sweet cross-ice feed from Boychuk (his first multi-point game of the season, because of course) at 18:26. It was Barzal's team-leading 14th goal of the season.

Boston has been a great third period team so far this season and this evening was no exception. Boston's power play had been 0-for-3 but when they got a two-man advantage, they came through with a pretty goal by Torey Krug. David Krejci and David Pastrnak (3 goals, 4 assists in his last 6 games) provided the helpers on his fifth goal of the season. There was a scary moment for everybody involved when Patrice Bergeron's errant skate (he was falling to the ice) appeared to graze Cal Clutterbuck's wrist. The rugged Islanders fourth line winger quickly skated off the ice and went down the tunnel to their dressing room. After the game, New York's excellent head coach Barry Trotz reported that Clutterbuck went to the hospital "to get stitched up."

For all the excitement that was mostly lacking in the first 60 minutes, overtime made up for it despite not featuring a game-winning goal for either club. Brad Marchand wheeled around New York's net but his shot was stopped by Varlamov and he later had a backhander skid wide. Pastrnak also crushed a patented one-timer from the slot that Varlamov had to look behind himself to find but he had stopped it. On the other end, Lee was stopped by Rask after a nifty feed from Barzal. Quinnipiac's Devon Toews had a breakaway in the closing seconds but the puck rolled off the defenseman's stick.

The Isles might not score a ton of goals but they have plenty of skilled guys who obviously thrive in the overtime (6-2) and shootout (3-0) formats unlike the Bruins. Eberle and Barzal both scored on New York's first two attempts before Rask stopped Josh Bailey's possible game-winner. For Boston, Coyle hit a post, Pastrnak scored but then Marchand was stuffed to end it. I'm sure that some frustration is naturally creeping into the heads of many Bruins. They have been playing in all these close games lately but coming up on the wrong end of most of them. Surprisingly, it isn't hurting them in the Atlantic Division standings where they still sit 11 points ahead of second-place Buffalo (16-13-7) and 12 points ahead of third-place Tampa Bay (17-12-4) who has three games in hand.

At the moment, the Predators (16-12-6) are two points behind Calgary (18-14-4) for the second Wild Card in the Western Conference. They are also six points behind Dallas (20-12-4) in the loaded Central Division so the Wild Card is probably their best bet into the playoffs this season. Saturday's meeting with Boston is the finale of Nashville's four-game road trip before they head home to host Arizona (20-12-4) on Monday. The Bruins have their own first-place team looming on Monday-the Capitals (24-6-5)-so that contest should be quite meaningful to both teams. Nashville lost 5-4 in overtime in Ottawa (15-18-3) earlier tonight so they were no doubt disappointed in that result and will want a better performance vs. Boston. And yes, Patriots-Bills starts at 4:30 on Saturday afternoon meaning that you'll need to get B's-Preds up on your computer unless you are a master of the remote control.

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