8 Bruins Takeaways From a 4-3 OT Loss to NYI

For the fifth time this season in five games, the Boston Bruins lost to the New York Islanders. In their first game action in a week, the Bruins built themselves a 2-0 lead, before the Isles rallied for a 4-3 overtime win that vaulted them back into first place in the East Division.

Let’s take a look back at the Bruins’ first home game with fans in attendance at the TD Garden with some takeaways.

• Raise your hand if you have Karson Kuhlman, Steven Kampfer, and Anders Bjork scoring the Bruins three goals. Now that is some secondary scoring they have been lacking. Unfortunately, in the end, it was not enough to get a victory.

• Tuukka Rask stopped all six shots he faced in the first period, but did not come back out for the second period with an upper-body injury. Jaroslav Halak played the final 40 minutes of regulation and the 21 seconds of the short-lived overtime.
• Charlie Coyle was a net-front presence on the first two Bruins goals by setting a screen, then won a big puck battle behind the Islanders net late in the third period to set up Bjork to tie the game. Not a bad regulation for the Boston native.
• In overtime, New York’s Nick Leddy set up the game-winning goal when he broke out of the Islanders’ end and skated around Coyle at the Bruins blue line. His shot was stopped by Halak, who left a rebound behind him in the crease and Anthony Beauvillier knocked the puck into an open net for the win. Good regulation by Coyle, but in overtime, he was caught flat-footed.
• The Bruins caught a huge break just 1:49 into the game when video review overturned what would have been a double-minor high sticking penalty on Matt Grzelcyk. In a puck battle in the corner, the Isles Matthew Barzal took a stick to the face, which caused him to bleed. Grzelcyk was called for a penalty, but the replays showed it was friendly fire that got Barzal as Jordan Eberle’s stick was the one that actually got him in the face. After the officials took a look at the video, Grzelcyk was freed and the B’s avoid a four-minute Islanders power play.
• In their first nine games this season, the Bruins were 9-0 when they had a multiple-goal lead at any point in the game. Thursday night dropped them to 9-1.
• The turning point of the game came in the second period. Boston had a four-minute power play when New York’s Scott Mayfield was called for high sticking Patrice Bergeron, but the Bruins failed to capitalize to increase their 2-0 lead despite having good offensive zone pressure. What happened right as the four-minute man advantage ended? You guessed it, Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored to cut the B’s lead to 2-1 and gave the Islanders a boost in momentum.
• If Don Sweeney was paying attention, he could see that the Bruins 5-on-5 scoring struggles continued. If the Bruins are serious about being a playoff team, adding a forward is a must at the trade deadline.

After a day off today, the Bruins will welcome the Buffalo Sabres to the TD Garden tomorrow afternoon as part of this season-long seven-game homestand.