The Bruins Have Finally Figured Out The Islanders As They Beat Them For The Second Night In A Row

 

    It's amazing what the infusion of a three new quality players can do for a hockey team. Suddenly, the Bruins (24-12-6) have new life and are playing great, blanking the Islanders (27-13-4) 3-0 tonight at the TD Garden for their second win against New York in 24 hours. The B's were 0-3-2 against the Isles this season before Thursday and they totally flipped the script the last few nights by outscoring them 7-1. Rookie goaltender Jeremy Swayman (25 saves, 4-1-0) recorded the first shutout of his NHL career and I'm going to venture an educated guess that it won't be his last. Boston scored a goal in each period: including another from left wing Taylor Hall, right wing David Pastrnak snapped his goal drought and center Curtis Lazar's notched his first as a Bruin. 

    Boston's opening goal was a backbreaker as weird as that sounds on the surface because there was 2.4 seconds left in the first period when defenseman Mike Reilly threw a pass in front of the net, on the money to Pasta who roofed it over Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin (11-4-1, 25 saves). Pastrnak's 17th goal of the season was also assisted by center Patrice Bergeron. That late momentum shift for the home team clearly carried over to the second period as Hall made it 2-0 47 seconds into that frame. He worked a give-and-go with center David Krejci, ending with Hall going to the net and blowing past New York defenseman Scott Mayfield before redirecting Krejci's pass through Sorokin's five-hole for his fourth goal of the season. Defenseman Steven Kampfer earned the secondary assist on Hall's second goal in black and gold. 

    Boston's penalty kill was outstanding as New York's power play went 0-for-5. Like any good goalie, Swayman was their top penalty killer as he made a bunch of quality stops. Tuukka Rask got the night off after beating the Islanders on Thursday so fellow rookie Dan Vladar served as Swayman's backup instead. It's not hard to picture that duo being Boston's goaltenders of the (near) future if they both keep this up. All three of the newcomers got on the score sheet so an empty-net goal for Lazar seemed like the perfect way to end this impressive performance. His sixth goal of the season was unassisted at 18:48 of the third period. 

    The B's have won their last three games-all since the trade deadline-and they are 6-3-1 in their last 10 games. I'm not saying that they are going to catch the three teams in front of them in the East Division-Pittsburgh (57 points), NYI and Washington (60 points)-but at least now that is more than a pipe dream. After getting humbled 8-1 by the Caps (28-12-4) last Sunday on their home ice, Boston gets another crack at them on Sunday afternoon (12, NBC) back at the Garden. Anything can happen but I'll guarantee that the Capitals won't beat them by seven goals this time around.