Coming into tonight's regular season home finale vs. the Islanders (32-17-7 overall, 11-13-4 away), all that the Bruins (33-15-7 overall, 18-7-3 home) needed to clinch the third seed in the East Division was a single point. Boston got the job done by winning 3-2 in overtime thanks to a brilliant backhander by left wing Taylor Hall. The Capitals (35-15-5 overall, 16-8-3 home) are the No. 2 seed from the East Division so that's who the B's will face in the first round of the playoffs, starting on Saturday night (7:15, NBC). I don't think that the black and gold could have picked a more difficult opponent to see right off the bat than Washington but here we are.
The Bruins completed the regular season series with the Islanders sporting a .500 record of 3-3-2. This evening was another reminder what a complete steal Hall was from the Sabres (15-34-7). He opened the scoring with a sweet one-timer from center David Krejci and left wing Brad Marchand at 19:21 of the first period. Hall's ninth goal of the season was on the power play and it was from a tough angle since he received the pass basically parallel to the goal line. Maine native and BC's Oliver Wahlstrom tied it with a one-timer and power play tally of his own at 1:38 of the second period. His 12th goal of the season was assisted by center Mathew Barzal and defenseman Nick Leddy.
Boston took a 2-1 lead later in the frame as Marchand re-directed a pass from Krejci at 6:15. His team-leading 29th goal of the season was also assisted by right wing David Pastrnak. Barzal is a great offensive talent that often gets overlooked on a team that generally struggles to put the puck in the net. He tied it with a sweet top shelf wrist shot over Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask's (16 saves, 15-5-2) shoulder at 8:31. His 17th goal of the season was assisted by defenseman Ryan Pulock and left wing Anthony Beauvillier.
Isles head coach Barry Trotz pulled their starting goaltender Semyon Varlamov (25 saves) after the second period supposedly with a minor injury. Hall's overtime goal was another one of those instances where it has to be a very short list of Bruins teammates that could have successfully made a similar type play. He took a nothing drop pass from Krejci at center ice, zoomed by center Casey Cizikas, put the puck through Leddy's legs (!!!) then fired a powerful backhander past backup goalie Ilya Sorokin (10 saves). Defenseman Mike Reilly had the second assist on one of the best goals of the year in the NHL. Holy smokes, if I was B's GM Don Sweeney I would have had a contract extension written up for Hall and placed in his locker by the time he got done with his postgame interviews.
Just by luck (and of course the pandemic), the last game of the regular season takes Boston to DC tomorrow night (7, NESNplus) where they will take on Washington in a completely meaningless dress rehearsal. The better question is will the Bruins remain there for Games 1 and 2 or return home only to go back again in a few days? We'll have to wait and see about that travel plan which is surely more interesting than what should amount to a preseason game in May with all the healthy scratch and taxi squad guys in the lineups for both clubs. It is also rookie goaltender Jeremy Swayman's last chance to impress Boston's head coach Bruce Cassidy, granted I'm pretty certain that he's already won the No. 2 goaltender position for the playoffs.
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