Boston Bruins: Good, Bad and Ugly from a loss to the Islanders

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Boston Bruins, Brad Marchand #63 (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /

The Boston Bruins closed out their three-game, New York road trip Saturday night with a 4-2 loss to the Islanders. The Bruins lost for just the second time in regulation this season. The other time? Jan. 18 on Long Island against the same Islanders, 1-0.

With the loss, the Bruins’ five-game winning streak came to an end, as did their 10-game point streak. It was an effort from the Black and Gold that looked every bit like a team that has spent the last two weeks on the road, playing seven games.

Boston returns home for a five-day break, before playing the New Jersey Devils (hopefully) Thursday night at the TD Garden. Let’s take one more look back at Saturday night’s loss to the Islanders.

The Good

There wasn’t much good from this game, but despite the loss, the Bruins had their moments. On their first goal of the game, they had 1:04 of zone time and the pressure paid off with Brad Marchand scoring on a wrist shot from the slot after coming off the bench and being left wide open in the first period.
On the Bruins’ second goal of the game, Brandon Carlo, usually a stay-at-home defenseman, joined the offensive rush and attracted the attention of the Islanders defensemen on the backcheck, leaving Patrice Bergeron wide open on the backside. The Boston captain took a cross-ice pass from Marchand and scored when he beat Semyon Varlamov with a wrist shot to the far post as the Isles goalie was sliding side-to-side.
Despite not finding his way onto the scoresheet, Anders Bjork continued his solid play as of late and was everywhere. It was one of his better forechecking nights and he caused a lot of havoc to the New York defense all night. He created scoring chances, but Varlamov was up to the challenge for a second time this season against the Bruins.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – FEBRUARY 10: Jakub Zboril #67 of the Boston Bruins skates against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on February 10, 2021 in New York City. The Bruins defeated the Rangers 3-2 in overtime. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

The Bad

Jakub Zboril has been very impressive in his first NHL season. Paired with Kevan Miller, Zboril has been better than what the Bruins and coach Bruce Cassidy expected. He did not return after the first period with what Boston called an upper-body injury. In Friday night’s 1-0 win over the New York Rangers, Zboril took a hit up high from the Rangers Jacob Trouba, but stayed in the game. It is not known if that hit had an effect on why Zboril left the game last night.

In defense of the blue line, the Bruins were playing their third game in four nights and were without Matt Grzelcyk and Zboril did not play the final two periods, but the night they had was one they would like to forget. They allowed 42 shots to be fired on Tuukka Rask, with many of them as a result of failing to just clear the puck out of the zone. The first three Islanders’ goals were all a result of failing to get the puck out of the zone when they numerous opportunities.

Trailing 3-2 late in the third period and the Bruins on the power play, Jean Gabriel-Pageau iced the game for the Islanders when he scored a shorthanded goal on a breakaway. Boston turned the puck over at the New York blue line when Nick Ritchie and David Krejci collided bringing the puck into the zone, which gave the Islanders a chance to break away and seal the victory.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – FEBRUARY 10: Tuukka Rask #40 of the Boston Bruins makes the stop on Ryan Strome #16 of the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on February 10, 2021 in New York City. The Bruins defeated the Rangers 3-2 in overtime. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

The Ugly

With the game tied 1-1 with just under five minutes left in the first period, Rask gave up a goal that he stops 99 times out of 100. New York broke in 3-on-2 with Brock Nelson sending a pass to Pageau. The Islanders forward took a slap shot from the right circle that went between the legs of Rask and in the net for a 2-1 Isles lead. I know this is being obvious, but the Bruins needed a save there. Struggling to generate much offense against the Islanders, falling behind is less than ideal in trying to make a comeback against the defensive sound Isles.
Tied 2-2 early in the third period, David Pastrnak took a penalty for a stick infraction on an Islanders drive to the net. The Bruins have entered the game with the league’s best penalty-killing unit, but it was a less than impressive kill that resulted in the game-winning goal for New York. Rask stopped the puck behind the net, put Kevan Miller in a tough position to clear the puck, which found its way to the front of the net, where Rask interfered with Bergeron trying to clear the puck. Marchand had a chance to get the puck out of the zone, couldn’t. The Bruins overloaded one side of the ice on the kill and left Matt Barzal open on the left side and he one-timed a pass from Jordan Eberle under the crossbar for a 3-2 lead.

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Playing 10 of their first 14 games on the road and having the success they have had coming from behind in the third period to win games took its toll on the Bruins. They were due for a stinker and it came Saturday night. They now get five days off at home and hope to get good news on Grzelck and Zboril on the injury front.

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