Thursday night, the Boston Bruins took on the conference leading Islanders in their second meeting of the year. They started off strong, heading into the 2nd period with a 2-0 lead thanks to goals by Reilly Smith and Patrice Bergeron. With some slow play and lack of effort, the Islanders quickly came back and scored two goals to tie it up – thanks to a lucky bounce and a rocket from former Bruin, Johnny Boychuk. If it weren’t for Rask making some amazing saves, the Islanders would have had even more goals.
Five minutes into the 2nd period, Isles forward Michael Grabner took a shot on an open net which got the fans on their feet cheering. But the red-hot Bruins Goalie, Tuukka Rask, made a quick left-to-right move to make a highlight reel stick save, denying Grabner the goal.
Rask started off the season looking like he had lost the spark that led him to securing the Vezina Trophy last year. However, over the past few weeks he has really stepped up his game and been an ace in the net. Tonight’s performance has topped them all with a season-high 43 save game.
Honorable Mention: Miller’s Game Winning Goal
Not to be out-shined by his fellow teammates, Kevan Miller made a key offensive move that ended up being the game winning goal. Islanders’ Goalie, Halak, stopped the puck behind his goal and sent it off down the boards to what he thought was open ice. Miller broke through the neutral zone, caught the puck and shot it right on net leading to a game-changing goal with 3 seconds left in the 2nd period. Thanks to Miller’s quick thinking, the B’s were up 3-2 heading into the third.
The Bruin’s won the game with a final score of 5-2. The two teams will meet again on February 7th when the Bruins host the Islanders.