The Bruins regained their home ice advantage as they won Game 3 tonight 2-1 at the Nassau Coliseum thanks to left wing Brad Marchand's no angle snipe 3:36 into overtime. Boston now leads the series 2-1 and they improved to 3-2 in OT this postseason (1-1 vs. NY). As you can guess from such a low-scoring affair, both goaltenders were fantastic: Isles goalie Semyon Varlamov made 39 saves before he made his only real mistake of the night while B's goalie Tuukka Rask (28 saves) wasn't quite as busy but he still had a bunch of huge stops. The only real lowlight of Game 3 for Boston was that defenseman Brandon Carlo took a huge hit to his head from Islanders hack Cal Clutterbuck in the third period and he never returned. For a guy with a history of concussions, it was horrifying to see him clearly struggling to get off the ice after his head slammed into the glass.
After missing Game 2 with a lower-body injury, right wing Craig Smith was back in the lineup for the B's and that paid immediate dividends. He took a sweet pass from left wing Taylor Hall and snapped a high shot over Varlamov's glove hand at 5:52 of the first period. BU's Matt Grzelcyk had the second assist on Smith's second goal of the postseason. Just when it looked like the black and gold might escape with a 1-0 road win, Islanders center Mathew Barzal used a quick wraparound move to tie it at one. Right wing Kyle Palmieri and defenseman Ryan Pulock had the assists on Barzal's first goal of the playoffs at 14:34 in the third period. From that point on, New York dominated and it continued into the extra session as they outshot Boston 5-2 in that. No matter though as it only takes one shot to end it and credit to Marchand for taking that chance. Long Island's own Charlie McAvoy and captain Patrice Bergeron assisted on Marchand's fifth goal of the postseason overall and his second overtime tally (joining Game 2 vs. Washington).
The B's have an optional practice on Friday and then these teams will meet again on Saturday night (7:15, NBC) where the stakes will be pretty high: Boston can take a 3-1 series lead or New York will tie it up at two games apiece. In his postgame press conference this evening, Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy noted how Carlo said that he was feeling "pretty good" while he caught up with his teammates in the locker room. With that said, I'd be really surprised if he is cleared to play in Game 4. If Carlo is out, defensemen Jakub Zboril or Jarred Tinordi seem like the most logical replacement for him although they are both left-handed shots meaning that somebody would have to play on their weak side for a whole entire game which is never preferred. It's also a little quicker turnaround after they had an extra day off between Games 2 and 3, so we'll have to see who recovers best from another intense and physical matchup.
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