No Comeback for Boston This Time Around as Islanders Strand Bruins 4-1

by abournenesn

Nov 16, 2009

No Comeback for Boston This Time Around as Islanders Strand Bruins 4-1 The Islanders proved to the NHL world that their lead over the Bruins in the Eastern Conference standings heading into this contest was no fluke as the young Isles took down the B’s 4-1 at the TD Garden on Monday night.

Down 2-1 heading into the third period, memories of the Bruins’ comeback win over the Islanders back on Oct. 10 danced through some fans’ heads. But those hopeful wishes were quickly shot down after New York buried a quick third-period goal less than two minutes into the final frame.

Islanders 4, Bruins 1
TD Garden, Boston, Mass.
Nov. 16, 2009

Live Blog | Box Score | Recap

Headliner: Matt Moulson popped a pair of goals to pace the Islanders offense in the team’s third win in its last five games. The 26-year-old winger now has 10 goals on the season and seven points (four goals) in his last five contests.

Grinder:
Winger Richard Park assisted on three New York goals and now has eight helpers on the season. Park jumped on a Bruins mishap in their own end as goaltender Tuukka Rask and captain Zdeno Chara had a communication issue behind the net. Rask sent a weak pass up the boards past Chara that was picked up by Park who fed it to Moulson in front of the net who buried the go-ahead goal in the second period, his 10th of the year and second of the game.

Islanders keeper Dwayne Roloson kicked aside 28 of 29 shots to improve to 6-1-5 on the season.

Weak Link:
The Bruins power play unit went 0-for-4 on the night and was unable to find the back of the net on a rare 5-on-3 advantage in the first frame.

Center Patrice Bergeron got just one shot on net in over 19 minutes of ice time and finished the night at minus-four.

Key Moment:
The Bruins, who lost an emotional game on Saturday night in Pittsburgh, looked to play some more comeback hockey Monday night as they entered the final frame down just one goal. Just 1:50 into the period, however, John Tavares banked one off the skate of a Bruins defender and it snuck past Rask to put the Islanders up 3-1.

What’s Next: The Bruins will now hit the road for a four-game trip. The B’s head down to Atlanta on Thursday night before flying north for a battle with the Sabres in Buffalo on Friday. After getting the weekend off, the B’s will head west to take on the Blues and Wild before finally returning home for the Thanksgiving holidays.

Despite sweeping the Thrashers in all four games last season, the Bruins had a couple of interesting battles with Atlanta. In a 5-4 win on Oct. 25, Milan Lucic netted his first career hat trick. In their physical 7-3 victory on Dec. 12, Zdeno Chara, Lucic and Shawn Thornton (twice) all threw down the gloves.

The Thrashers are second in the Southeast division behind the Capitals with a 10-6-1 record, but are just 4-4-0 at home. Leading the Thrashers offense has been Ilya Kovalchuck (12 goals) and Nik Antropov (12 assists), while goalie Ondrej Pavelec has cooled down following a 4-1-0 start and now stands in with a 6-5-1 record to go with a 2.90 GAA.


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