Bruins ride depth scoring and Jeremy Swayman to win over Islanders

Closing out a four-game road trip that began in California a week ago, the Boston Bruins were looking to finish the trip with a split. After dropping two out of three out West in games where they deserved points, finishing on Long Island against the New York Islanders was going to be a difficult task.

Boston looked like a team that was at the end of a long road trip after going across the country twice. In the first period, and fell behind early. However, as they have done this year, they started to play their game and rode the goaltending of Jeremy Swayman to finish the trip with a much-needed victory.

Bruins beat Islanders behind two Alex Steeves goals

The recipe for success this season has been depth scoring, and that's what they got against the Islanders. They got it from an unlikely source offensively. Former Toronto Maple Leafs forward Alex Steeves scored two goals, including a backbreaker in the third period, shorthanded for the first Boston shorthanded goal of the season.

He tied the game in the first period when he banged home a rebound in front. Tanner Jeannot gave the Bruins a 2-1 second-period lead in the first minute of the period. From that point on, the Bruins killed three Islanders' power plays until Steeves gave them some breathing room with his shorthanded goal. It was the first multi-goal game of his career.

The biggest story, other than the offense from the bottom-six, was the play of Jeremy Swayman. He was playing a third straight game because he forced Marco Sturm's hand with how well he had been playing. Boston was outshot 43-14, and Swayman made 42 saves. Those shot numbers are correct, and Swayman was huge.

The Bruins will enter Thanksgiving in an Eastern Conference playoff spot with a pair of conference home games against the New York Rangers and Detroit Red Wings on Friday and Saturday, respectively.