Third Period Dooms the Bruins Against NYI Again

It was like the Boston Bruins were reliving a nightmare Thursday night against the New York Islanders.

For the second time in 12 days, the Bruins and Islanders were tied 2-2 after two periods on Long Island. For the second time in 12 days, the Bruins were outplayed in the third period, but this time, it was at an alarming rate.

Bruins get outscored by five goals in the final 14 minutes.

Tied 2-2 with just over 14 minutes remaining in the game, one turnover by Bruins rookie Trent Frederic set off a final 14 minutes that the Black and Gold would like to forget.

Frederic had the puck in front of his net when Anthony Beauvillier took the puck from him and quickly slid a backhander by Jaroslav Halak. Jordan Eberle doubled the Islanders’ lead five minutes later before 2021 Bruins killer Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored his second third-period shorthanded goal in as many games against the B’s to essentially put the game away.

In one of their worst 20 minutes of the season in the final period, Boston left Halak under fire by the Isles, as they fired 18 shots at the Bruins goalie.  Halak’s frustration came out when he broke his stick over the net after giving up a goal.

Who could blame him?

The Bruins’ frustration down the other end continued against Islanders’ goalie Semyon Varlamov. He stopped 34 of the 36 shots the Bruins had one net, with only a Nick Ritchie redirection of a Jakub Zboril pass in the opening minute and a bad deflection off the stick of one of his defensemen for a second-period goal that was credited to Craig Smith getting by him.

In reality of the other 34 shots that were one Varlamov, how many were “tough” saves? It didn’t seem like too many.

The loss dropped the B’s to 0-3 this season against the Islanders, all on the road. In those three losses, they have scored just four goals in nine periods. It’s safe to say that the Isles have Boston’s number early this season. Now we know how the Philadelphia Flyers feel when they play the Bruins, losing all five games this season.

It’s just one bad outing for the Black and Gold after maybe their best 60 minutes of the season Sunday night at Lake Tahoe against the Flyers in a 7-3 victory. No need to push the panic button, but the Bruins need to figure out the Isles over their final five games should the two teams meet in the playoffs.

The good thing, if there is anything good out of Thursday night, is that the Bruins get right back at it tonight, this time at Madison Square Garden against the New York Rangers. It can’t get any worse than Thursday night, can it?