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The Boston Bruins hit a slump dating back to their blow-out loss against the Dallas Stars. The Bruins were starting a three game road trip after the Dallas loss which was good news for a Bruins team who was 5-0-0 on the road to start the season; unfortunately, that streak did not continue during their road trip. After dropping games to both the Washington Capitals and the Montreal Canadiens, questions were once again being asked about who the Bruins are and whether or not they are a team worthy of a playoff spot. The Bruins have easily been one of the biggest stories so far this year with a top-tier offense and power play to start the season. Unfortunately their defense, goaltending, faceoffs and penalty killing — usual areas of strength, have all been sub-par at best.
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The Bruins closed off their road trip against the New York Islanders and the results were far more satisfactory than they had been over the previous three games. Head coach Claude Julien clearly knew something needed to change to spark his Bruins team and that came with a demotion of Brad Marchand to the third line and Matt Beleskey being promoted to the Patrice Bergeron line. The lines were jumbled a bit throughout the game, but the results led to a 2-1 Bruins win, so Claude Julien clearly made the right choices.
Ryan Spooner opened the scoring for the Bruins on a 5-on-3 power play, increasing Boston’s streak to at least one power play goal in their last seven games, off an assist from David Krejci who had just received a pass from Patrice Bergeron.
Patrice Bergeron also buried his own goal off of a Brad Marchand pass with Kevan Miller drawing the secondary assist.
Patrice Bergeron’s shot has eyes. It’s 2-0 Boston in the 2nd! #BOSvsNYI pic.twitter.com/KYMF1Q3OVM
— Garden Grizzlies (@GardenGrizzlies) November 8, 2015
Tuukka Rask only allowed one goal by Johnny Boychuk on an Islanders 5-on-3 power play opportunity, and he was able to make 36 saves to help the Bruins earn the win. It was a very good game from Rask who has struggled so far this season, and he will look to carry that confidence over to the Bruins’ next game against the Colorado Avalanche.
Follow Brandon Share-Cohen on Twitter @BShareCohen to discuss all things Bruins and sports