Bruins Now Facing Elimination Against Islanders

(Photo: Fred Khoury III/Icon Sportswire)

A disturbing trend has become evident in this series between the Boston Bruins and the New York Islanders. That trend is Boston’s inability to sustain a lead.

With the exception of the first game, which saw Anthony Beauvillier notch the first marker of the game, it was a player on the Boston Bruins that put up the first goal in the Games 2 through 5. Throughout those games, the Islanders were able to find a game-tying goal.

In game 2 Josh Bailey’s marker on the power play during the second period opened the game up, with Kyle Palmieri and Jean-Gabriel Pageau giving his team a two-goal lead in the middle frame. Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand responded in the third period, forcing an overtime which Casey Cizikas won to tie the series in Boston.

Going into Game 3 in Long Island, it took the Islanders until the third to knot the game—the goal coming from Mat Barzal. And once again the game headed to overtime. This time it was Marchand and the Bruins who took the win.

Game 4 looked like it was going to be another tight game, as no goals were scored in the first period and at the end of the second it was knotted at one each with David Krejci getting his first of the playoffs at 3:57 of the period while on the power play and Palmieri tying it up about three minutes later. With under seven minutes to go in the third, Barzal got the go-ahead and that was where things stalled as the clock ticked down. The Bruins pulled Tuukka Rask for the extra attacker but by the final horn Cizikas and Pageau had each notched an empty netter making the game look far worse than it really was.

Back in Boston the Bruins began Game 5 with the lead, when David Pastrnak put the home team up at 1:25 of the first period. The pace of the game was extremely fast, and the hits were many and hard. It even looked like perhaps the referees were going to allow the teams to play as nothing was called; that is until there was less than two minutes remaining in the first. That was when Sean Kuraly took a slashing penalty. Thirty-two seconds later, yes, the Islanders had the game tied up, and yes, it was Barzal, who scored his third goal of the playoffs and of the series.

At 2:56 of the second, Matt Grzelcyk was sent to the sin bin for a cross check and Palmieri put the Islanders up with just six seconds remaining on that power play. Marchand did what he has been doing all throughout the playoffs and stunned many with an impressive goal at 7:27 to again tie things up.

Bailey put the Islanders ahead—their first at even strength—at 14:30. At 15:18, Chris Wagner was whistled for high sticking—made all the more frustrating since a high stick on Craig Smith had not been called seconds earlier. Jordan Eberle put the Islanders up by two while they were on that power play at 16:38. Despite outshooting the Islanders 26-16, the Bruins trailed by two going into the second intermission.

As the game got under way in the third, Jeremy Swayman replaced Rask between the pipes. The rookie netminder had seen action during the regular season, playing ten games and earning a 7-3-0 record. He had not played since the end of the regular season though and had not gone to join the Providence Bruins either to see any game action. Brock Nelson put the first of the three shots the Islanders managed in the third period past Swayman at 1:59 of the third. With the Islanders up by three goals, it certainly wasn’t looking good for the Bruins.

But then Pastrnak got a power play goal 24 seconds after Adam Pelech had been sent off for a hooking. The Bruins seemed to be more determined, but the number of missed connections on passes and players sometimes bumping into each other spoke to the overall miscommunication that was taking place. This could have been due to Boston’s loss of Curtis Lazar early in the second period and the need to shuffle the forward lines throughout the rest of the game.

When Krejci put the Bruins within one of tying things with 5:17 remaining in regulation it looked like Boston might just find a way to at least force overtime. In the end it was not to be.

Despite peppering Semyon Varlamov with 44 shots in three periods, the Islanders goaltender stopped 40 of them and gave his team the win and the 3-2 lead in the series.

The Bruins and Islanders will play Game 6 at Nassau Coliseum on Wednesday night. There are now questions as to whether the Bruins can force a Game 7 in this series. They have lost key players on their back end with Brandon Carlo and Kevan Miller both out, and it may just be too much, especially if Rask is struggling.