The Bruins Wasted A Great Opportunity To Take Control Of The Series As They Fell 4-1 To The Isles

 

    Whenever the Bruins have a frustrating loss, particularly in the playoffs, I like to say "the Bruins never making anything easy on themselves." It's not exactly ground-breaking stuff but I think that it applies all too often for the B's. Tonight was the latest example as they lost 4-1 to the Islanders in Game 4 of their second round playoff series. Another win at the Nassau Coliseum would have given them a commanding 3-1 lead in the series and that might have meant that they wouldn't have to go back to Long Island. Instead, thanks to their uneven effort, the series is now tied 2-2 and it comes down to a best-of-3 series against the Isles who are the definition of gritty and tough to play against.

    The final score is very misleading, especially if you weren't watching the whole game since New York scored two empty-net goals. There were no goals scored in the first period but it was still pretty crazy since there were two fights (Taylor Hall vs. Scott Mayfield and Jarred Tinordi vs. Matt Martin) and B's star David Pastrnak hit the post on the most wide open look that he'll ever see with a goalie in net. Boston actually led 1-0 when center David Krejci put in a rebound for a power play goal at 3:57 of the second period. His first goal of the playoffs was assisted by left wing Brad Marchand and Pasta. Boston's lead lasted for less than three minutes as Islanders left wing Kyle Palmieri put in a close-range one-timer from center Mathew Barzal. Right wing Jordan Eberle had the other assist on Palmieri's team-leading fifth goal of the postseason.

    Barzal is by far New York's best and most talented offensive player so it was surprising that he did not have a goal in their first eight playoff games this year. He is starting to heat up though at just the wrong time for the Bruins as he scored the lone Islanders goal in Game 3 and this evening he had the game-winner as he batted a loose puck out of the air to make it 2-1 at 13:03 of the third period. Mayfield and fellow defenseman Noah Dobson had the assists on Barzal's second goal of the playoffs. Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask made 30 saves so he was one of the few bright spots in the loss for Boston. His counterpart Semyon Varlamov (who improved to 7-2 against the B's this season) had 28 saves but you have to say that the black and gold did not test him nearly enough. Centers Casey Cizikas and Jean-Gabriel Pageau potted the empty-netters for the Isles as the Coliseum exploded at the end of this victory for their beloved home team. 

    Game 5 is on Monday (6:30, NBCSN) at the TD Garden and Game 6 (time TBA) will be back in Uniondale on Wednesday. Needless to say that Monday is the biggest tilt of the season for both clubs. To go up 3-2 thus giving yourself two chances to eliminate the other team is a huge advantage versus being down 3-2 in the series and having to win twice in a row at each venue no less. Don't be surprised if Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy tinkers with his lineup a little bit on Monday. Nick Ritchie has been useless for much of this postseason so why not throw rookie Trent Frederic in there and see if he can provide some type of spark? If nothing else, he would bring energy and fresh legs to a group that looked understandably tired in Game 4 after taking so many tough hits from the Islanders all series long.

B's Rallied From A 3-1 Deficit In The 3rd Period, Only To Lose In Overtime To Even The Series 1-1

 

    After battling for nearly four full periods at the TD Garden tonight in Game 2 of their second-round playoff series, the Islanders took advantage of a brutal turnover by Bruins defenseman Jeremy Lauzon which led to a breakaway and game-winning goal by their fourth line center Casey Cizikas. New York won the game 4-3 at 14:48 in overtime to even the series at 1-1. It was truly a contest that could have gone either way since Boston scored first, then the Isles tallied three unanswered goals in a disastrous second period for the home team (their worst frame of the postseason) before getting the two goals that they needed in a hectic third period to force the extra session. Now the series shifts to the dump known as the Nassau Coliseum that nevertheless should be rocking for Game 3 on Thursday (7:30, NBCSN) and Game 4 on Saturday night (7:15, NBC). 

    The clutch victory by the Islanders snapped Boston's five-game playoff win streak while it also ended New York's four-game losing streak against the B's dating back to the regular season. It ensures that the Bruins will not sweep the Isles (honestly, who thought that would happen?) and they will get at least one more home game at the Garden next Monday (time TBA) for Game 5. BU's Charlie Coyle staked his club to a very early 1-0 lead as he dangled around an Islander and then did the same thing to New York's goaltender Semyon Varlamov (39 saves) for a beautiful goal at 2:38. Coyle's second goal of the playoffs was assisted by left wing Nick Ritchie and right wing Karson Kuhlman (making his playoff debut in 2021). 

    The second period turned into a complete mess for the black and gold as they allowed a pair of power play goals that bookended a rough 20 minutes. Right wing Josh Bailey tied it at one as his attempted centering pass deflected off Bruins defenseman Jeremy Lauzon and through goaltender Tuukka Rask's (35 saves) five-hole. Right wing Kyle Palmieri and center Brock Nelson recorded the assists on the power play strike, Bailey's fourth goal of the postseason. New York's next goal I'm sure is the one out of the four in Game 2 that Rask allowed which he would want back the most. He couldn't grab a loose puck in his crease next to a post and Palmieri made him pay by knocking it in for a 2-1 Islanders lead at 11:00. Palmieri has been a Bruins killer for years, going back to when he played on the Devils. Defenseman Nick Leddy and center Jean-Gabriel Pageau had the assists on his fourth goal of the playoffs. Boston's defense let Rask and the rest of the team down on the third goal as they fell asleep in coverage which allowed JGP to drive to the net and one-time in a nifty little pass by left wing Anthony Beauvillier at 17:21. Center Mathew Barzal was credited with the second assist on Pageau's second goal of the playoffs. 

    Many lesser teams would have been unable to put that previous period behind them so quickly but not our Bruins. Nope, they kept grinding and were handsomely rewarded as two of their top players and trusted leaders-center Patrice Bergeron and left wing Brad Marchand-had the honors of bagging the goal that flipped the momentum and then the tying goal on the power play. The captain went to the bumper position where Marchand was able to connect with his best friend for a sweet one-timer through some traffic. Right wing David Pastrnak picked up the second assist on Bergeron's fourth goal of the postseason at 10:34. Boston's tying goal was all about Marchand who ripped a low, hard shot at 15:06 of the third period. BU's Charlie McAvoy notched the lone assist on Marchand's fourth goal of the playoffs. True to most playoff overtimes, each team had plenty of scoring chances with New York outshooting Boston 9-6. The fatal mistake by Lauzon was trying to shuttle the puck away from the wall and over to his fellow defenseman Connor Clifton. The problem was that the pass went off another Bruin's skate and thus Cizikas was able to swoop in and use his speed to stay away from Lauzon and everybody else. His first goal of the playoffs (his 1st postseason goal in 6 years) is no doubt one that he'll never forget for the rest of his life.

    With an extra day in between Games 2 and 3-NBA style-B's head coach Bruce Cassidy has chosen to not hold a practice tomorrow. Instead, his team will take an extra breath after their latest overtime work. Before this series began, I felt pretty confident that it would be a long set of games either way. The Islanders got a split in Boston so now they are no doubt all thrilled to get back to their home arena which is one of the loudest and craziest atmospheres in the NHL. The Bruins will have to play much more like the team that rolled in Game 1 vs. the plucky one in Game 2 that ultimately lost despite that awesome comeback in the third period.

Bruins Fail to Ever Show Up, Lose 4-0 to the Worst Team in the Eastern Conference (Islanders)

If you are a Bruins (23-19-5) fan (and I assume that you are friend since you're reading this), it is no-show performances like today vs. the Islanders (17-17-8) at TD Garden that drive you crazy and make you pull your hair out (if you still have any left). For the second time this season, Boston lost to New York and it was truly pathetic this time around as they were blanked 4-0. Thomas Greiss (32 saves) recorded his first shutout of this campaign (New York's 1st in franchise history here) and it's not like he even had to work to hard to get it. Conversely, Tuukka Rask (12 saves, 3 goals allowed) gave up a really weak goal and was benched after the second period was over with his team trailing 3-0.

Three goals scored has been the magic number for the Islanders this season because they are 16-4-2 when they score 3+ and 1-13-6 when they score two or less. If you were taking a nap on Martin Luther King Day, you certainly didn't wake up during the beyond dull first period (0-0 with 10 total shots on goal). New York's fourth line carried them (it was that special kind of forgettable occasion) as Nikolay Kulemin scored two goals, Casey Cizikas had two assists and Jason Chimera added a goal and assist. Cizikas was a game-high +3 while Patrice Bergeron, Torey Krug, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak were all a game-low -3.

New York scored three goals in a span of 5:20 late in the second period. Kulemin scored out front after he was left all alone with Rask. Cizikas and Chimera assisted on Kulemin's sixth goal of the season. Josh Bailey received an absolute gift when he threw the puck at the net and Rask let it sneak under his pads at 15:00. Bailey's sixth goal of the season was assisted by Anders Lee and Adam Pelech. The beating only got worse as Rask stuffed Cizikas on a breakaway only to see him pass it to Kulemin for a one-timer at 18:38. By that point, you knew that the Bruins would not recover on this day from a 3-0 hole even against what coming into the contest had been the worst team in the Eastern Conference.

The Islanders proved that their 4-2 victory here on Dec. 23, 2016 was no fluke as Chimera got a shorthanded breakaway at 12:00 and blasted the puck by Boston's backup goaltender Zane McIntyre (11 saves). Mercifully they meet one more time this season, except it is in Brooklyn. Chimera's eighth goal of the season came in the game where Boston pulled its goalie for the fourth time in 2016-17 (obviously they are 0-4-0 in said tilts). All that was left for the family oriented holiday crowd to do (well the ones that stuck around to the bitter end) was to boo the B's off the ice at the final whistle.

With the one-sided loss, Boston fell back below .500 at the Garden (10-11-0) this season and dropped their first matinee (5-1-0). They are at Detroit (18-19-6) on Wednesday (8, NBC Sports) before they host Chicago (27-14-5) in an extremely rare Friday night matchup (7, NESN). The Bruins are 13-8-5 on the road and the Red Wings currently tied with the Islanders for last-place in the East so they are a disaster. If Detroit was coming here, I'd say that was bad news for the home team but since the road-loving B's are going to Motown, I like their chances much better.

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The Jekyll & Hyde Bruins Continue to Mystify Us

If you are trying to make sense of the Bruins through the first seven games of this season, don't bother because it'll only give you an ice cream headache. Boston (3-3-1) won 5-3 tonight at Barclays Center against the Islanders (4-2-1) who are supposed to be one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference. The B's improved to 3-0 on the road while backup goaltender Jonas Gustavsson (23 saves) earned his second win in as many starts. Haha trade Tuukka! (Just kidding of course).

What's more strange is that head coach Claude Julien shuffled up the forward lines for once and they paid immediate dividends as Ryan Spooner (1 goal, 1 assist) and rookie Joonas Kemppainen (1 goal, 1 assist) each had two points on the rejiggered fourth line. Another good sign for Boston is that they rallied from down 2-1 in the first period (when it could have been worse since they were outshot 18-8) but recovered to go ahead in the second period and then continued to build on that in the third period before New York scored in garbage time.

Brett Connolly opened the scoring with his second goal of the season and in as many contests. He actually beat Islanders superstar John Tavares to a loose puck and slammed in the rebound at 9:51 of the first. Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron had the assists on their temporary linemate's tally (Matt Beleskey remained out with an upper-body injury). Marchand took a needless hooking penalty and New York cashed in on the power-play as Josh Bailey put in a rebound of his own at 14:08. Tavares and Ryan Strome had the assists on Bailey's third goal of the season.

A crazy sequence began at 15:27 when Casey Cizikas tipped in Johnny Boychuk's pass by Gustavsson for what turned out to be New York's only lead, 2-1. Matt Martin had the other assist on Cizikas' goal and after the play, he dropped the gloves with Adam McQuaid. This is where I'm supposed to bitch about fighting having no place in today's NHL but I'd say that it at least settled down the frazzled Bruins who had allowed two goals in 1:19.

Kemppainen fittingly was rewarded with his first NHL goal after some excellent backchecking caused a Bruins-style turnover in New York's end. Jaroslav Halak (21 saves) stopped Spooner's initial shot but the big Finn was there to score on the second chance at 16:13 of the second period. That turned things in Boston's favor as David Pastrnak made it 3-2 Bruins 2:03 after it. He showed off his creativity and impressive skills by kicking the puck with his skate to his stick where he shot it into the corner through traffic. Loui Eriksson had the lone assist on Pastrnak's second goal of the season (his 1st since Opening Night).

Spooner has often been in Julien's doghouse the last two seasons so it was nice to see him get a bounce to go his way rather than the opposite unintended consequence. He had a clear lane at Halak with his backhand but he chose to pass it to a trailing Kemppainen. The puck went off an Islanders' skate and into the net at 8:09 of the third period. Halak was pulled for an extra attacker with nearly three minutes left in regulation (why not?) but Krejci potted an empty-netter for his league-leading 12th point (5 goals, 7 assists). He has a point in every game so far in 2015-16. Eriksson and McQuaid had the helpers.

The Bruins get a couple days to relax in Boston before they host Arizona (3-3-1) on Tuesday (7, NESN) at TD Garden. The B's beat the Coyotes 5-3 last Saturday in Glendale, AZ. Since winning their first three games of the season, Arizona has predictably dropped its last four. Additionally, they are in Ottawa (3-2-2) tomorrow night and Toronto (1-3-2) on Monday so Boston is the last stop on a six-game road trip. In other words, they should be exhausted and the Bruins have no excuse but to beat them and pick up their first long overdue home win.

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Business As Usual: Bruins Own Islanders, 4-1

The Bruins (12-2-2) are on quite a roll, they completed their season-long five-game (4-1) road trip tonight against the Islanders (8-11-1) with the Black and Gold walking away with a 4-1 win at Nassau Coliseum. They last played at TD Garden on February 12, a 4-3 shootout loss vs. Rangers. With the blizzard wiping out their game with the Lightning, they only have two home games in February.

Boston goaltender Tuukka Rask (10-1-2) was immense with a season-high 36 saves while 10 Bruins recorded points, including a pair of assists for Patrice Bergeron and Tyler Seguin. Just like Chris Kelly potted his first goal of the season on Sunday in Florida, Adam McQuaid snapped his bad luck at 6:43 of the first period. Seguin and Bergeron had the assists on a blast from the point that eluded Islanders goaltender Evgeni Nabokov (30 saves).

New York responded at 15:49 as Casey Cizikas redirected a centering pass from Josh Bailey. The Islanders took a page out of the Rangers' playbook (since they did a similar thing against Boston earlier this season) by starting from behind their own goal then perfectly executing a set play: they chipped the puck along the boards then Bailey threw it to Cizikas who was behind Boston's defense. Andrew MacDonald had the second assist at 15:49 of the first period.

Sadly for New York, that was the lone highlight of the game for them. They actually had tons of chances but Rask was spectacular, he stopped not one but two shorthanded breakaways by Michael Grabner.

Boston scored two goals in the second period to take control. Brad Marchand notched his 10th of the season on a rebound only 38 seconds into the frame. Andrew Ference and Bergeron had the assists on that one. Then David Krejci (5th of the season) scored one of the prettier goals of the season for the B's. Nathan Horton was on the side wall, he passed it to Lucic who found Krejci. He one-timed it top shelf, it actually made the Gatorade bottle go flying.

The Islanders dominated stretches of the third period but they couldn't solve Rask again. Boston probably experienced some fatigue as they daydreamed about heading home for the first time in two weeks. Gregory Campbell's empty-netter at 18:55 sent the crowd to the exits, just kidding. It was nowhere near sold out to begin with so who could tell? Seguin and Dennis Seidenberg had the assists. Speaking of Seidenberg, him and Ference are the only Bruins regulars not to score a goal yet this season so that's something to remember.

It's going to be a great couple days of hockey in Boston as the Bruins return to TD Garden for three juicy contests: they host the Senators on Thursday (7 p.m., NESN), Lightning on Saturday afternoon and Canadiens on Sunday night. Ottawa (12-6-2, 2nd in Northeast Division) has been decimated by injuries to its two best players: defenseman Erik Karlsson and center Jason Spezza not to mention goaltender Craig Anderson but at least so far, they are finding a way to stay afloat.

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