Final, Islanders 3-1: There were a couple of late chances for the Bruins in the final minutes of the third period, but Kevin Poulin made saves when he had to.
The Bruins head back to Boston with a 3-1 loss to the Islanders.
Third period, 18:27, Islanders 3-1: The Bruins’ net is empty.
Third period, 16:24, Islanders 3-1: The Bruins were able to kill off the penalty to Zdeno Chara. It’s back to even strength.
Third period, 14:24, Islanders 3-1: Just not the Bruins’ night.
Zdeno Chara just caught Cal Clutterbuck up high with what looked to be his fist. It certainly wasn’t an intentional blow — at least it certainly didn’t look it — but it’s a penalty nonetheless. The Bruins will have to go back on the penalty kill down by two with time running out. Not a good look.
They’re lucky it’s not 4-1 at this point, though. Thomas Vanek turned Dougie Hamilton inside out a few minutes ago with a gorgeous move, and that led to a beautiful scoring chance, but Chad Johnson made a glove save, perhaps his best of the night.
Third period, 10:16, Islanders 3-1: New York came real close to adding what would be a crushing blow off the stick of Cal Clutterbuck.
Clutterbuck was fed right in front of the Bruins goal, and Chad Johnson made the original save and also turned away a second chance from Clutterbuck to keep it at 3-1.
Third period, 7:59, Islanders 3-1: The Bruins couldn’t cash in on the extended power play during what turned into a pretty frustrating few minutes for the B’s.
The first unit sustained good pressure in the offensive zone, but a handful of shots whistled by the net as missed chances. Then at the end of the power play the B’s had another golden chance when Dougie Hamilton made a nifty play in the offensive zone to feed Ryan Spooner in the slot, but Spooner just couldn’t get enough of the puck to put it in the Islanders goal.
Third period, 4:30, Islanders 3-1: The Bruins were able to survive the 4-on-4 without any further damage, and now they will have an elongated power play.
John Tavares was actually given an extra penalty for yelling at the referees after his holding penalty, so the Bruins have about 2:30 of power-play time.
Third period, 2:48, Islanders 3-1: The Islanders’ power play is over.
Brad Marchand took a loose puck out of the Boston zone, and he was hooked by John Tavares as Marchand tried to flee the zone. Bad call, but the Bruins will take it.
Third period, 2:27, Islanders 3-1: Torey Krug has been exposed some defensively in the past couple of games, and it almost hurt the Bruins here.
It may still end up hurting them, though, as he was called for hooking after letting an Islander get behind him on a breakaway. It was pretty close to being a penalty shot, too.
Third period, 1:30, Islanders 3-1: The Bruins killed off the Dougie Hamilton penalty, and the teams are back to even strength early in the third period.
]Third period, 0:01, Islanders 3-1: The third period is underway with Dougie Hamilton in the penalty box for another minute.
Speaking of Hamilton, he has been credited with the Bruins’ lone goal.
End second period, 3-1: The horn just sounded on the second period, and the Islanders will take a 3-1 lead to intermission.
They will also get a little more than a minute of power-play time to open the third period.
Second period, 19:04, Islanders 3-1: The Islanders will have a chance to really get a stranglehold on this game.
Dougie Hamilton is going to the penalty box for holding, and the Islanders will be on the power play for the rest of the period and could have carry-over time on the man-advantage assuming they don’t get one before the period ends.
Second period, 15:48, Islanders 3-1: Thomas Vanek had yet to score a goal since being acquired by the Islanders last week. Naturally, he broke the drought against the Bruins.
Vanek, who owns the Bruins, scored just 41 seconds after the Bruins got their first goal, as he continues to just torch the Bruins.
Kyle Okposo took advantage of a Bruins breakdown, and he fed Vanek for the goal.
Second period, 15:27, Islanders 2-1: Michael Grabner had a chance to make it 3-0 with a shorthanded goal. He couldn’t settle the puck, and the Bruins made the Islanders pay.
The B’s second power-play unit used some incredible puck movement in the offensive zone to eventually get their second goal of the game. It came with 3 seconds left on the power play, as Dougie Hamilton fed it in front to Carl Soderberg who scored his second goal in as many games.
Second period, 13:30, Islanders 2-0: The Bruins will get a chance to change the momentum of this game here with a power play.
Brock Nelson was called for holding the stick, and the B’s get their first power play of the night.
Second period, 13:13, Islanders 2-0: The Bruins are in a bad way in this hockey game.
After winning an offensive zone faceoff, the Islanders got the puck back to Andrew MacDonald. The New York defenseman rifled a slap shot from the left point that may have been deflected, but it beat Chad Johnson over the goalie’s glove.
Second period, 10:07, Islanders 1-0: We just had what was by far the most exciting back-and-forth exchange of the game.
First, it was the Bruins’ second line who put some big pressure on the Islanders in the New York end. Defenseman Zdeno Chara jumped up and got caught deep in the offensive zone. The Bruins forwards weren’t quick enough in rotating back to the blue line, and the puck was chipped out of the zone. John Tavares came bolting out of his own zone in an attempt to chase down the puck. Bruins goalie Chad Johnson got the puck first, though, and play went back the other way.
Brad Marchand, at the end of a long shift, got in by himself on the left wing, but his wrist shot went right into Kevin Poulin’s midsection.
Second period, 6:15, Islanders 1-0: The Bruins haven’t been able to get anything going offensively, and when you’re going up against as team with as much offensive talent as the Islanders have, it’s going to hurt you at some point.
The Islanders just took the lead with the game’s first goal in the opening minutes of the first period. After a strong start to the game from Chad Johnson, the Bruins goalie had an issue with a weird-angle shot from Thomas Vanek who was able to get the puck on net as he spun in the left faceoff circle. Johnson made the initial save, but the puck rolled up his arm and back down behind him where John Tavares was able to bat it home as the puck was coming down.
It looked like the Bruins defense got caught looking at the puck and forgot about Tavares, which is kind of a no-no.
Second period, 0:01, 0-0: The second period is underway, as we’re still looking for the game’s first goal.
End first period, 0-0: The Bruins and Islanders will head to the dressing rooms in a scoreless tie after a pretty entertaining first period.
If you’re the B’s, you have to like what you saw out of Chad Johnson in that first period. The Boston backup made nine saves, including a couple of nice ones late in the period. He did a solid job of looking around screens and positioning himself well against an Islanders team that can pour it in when they’re going well.
The Isles outshot the Bruins 9-5.
First period, 14:39, 0-0: Things have been a little bit chippy so far here in the first period, and we just Matt Carkner try to stir things up some.
The New York defenseman lightly slashed Gregory Campbell’s stick after a whistle as Campbell just glided through the zone. He obviously took exception, and there was some pushing and shoving while Shawn Thornton also came in at the end.
Following the ensuing TV timeout, Brad Marchand and Cal Clutterbuck were doing some jawing as well.
First period, 10:38, 0-0: After a quick start from the Islanders, the Bruins have come back even quicker and stronger after finding their legs.
The Bruins just had three scoring chances in the last four or five minutes. It started with a scoring chance for David Krejci who took a nice pass from Dougie Hamilton after the defenseman jumped into the rush and took an offering from Jarome Iginla. Kevin Poulin made the save, though.
Not long after, the Bruins got a good breakout pass from Reilly Smith, who passed it up to Patrice Bergeron. That eventually led to a scramble in front of the Islanders net. Smith, who followed the play and went to the slot, just couldn’t quite get his stick loose enough to put it home.
The third line also had a nice chance when Carl Soderberg took a pass from Chris Kelly and put a wrist shot on goal, but Poulin stopped that as well.
First period, 6:00, 0-0: The Islanders have come out looking to control the tempo of this game, and so far, so good. They’re playing at the speed they want to play at, which looks a little too fast for the Bruins’ comfort.
That being said, the B’s have done a good job of not letting it get away from them in the first few minutes. However, the Islanders did get the game’s first two shots, which included a good scoring chance from the top line. That chance was started by, who else, John Tavares, who is quickly becoming one of the game’s best players.
New York is outshooting Boston 2-0 so far.
First period, 0:01, 0-0: Saturday night hockey. Let’s do it. The game is underway.
6:45 p.m.: As expected, Ryan Spooner is back in the lineup after picking up his first career point with an assist Thursday night against Anaheim.
He’ll center the club’s third line in between Chris Kelly and Carl Soderberg. Calling Spooner the center of that line is kind of complicated. He did play a good deal of center Thursday night, but Kelly ended up taking most of the faceoffs.
6:30 p.m.: The Bruins won’t have Loui Eriksson back Saturday night, and it’s still unclear when he’ll return from a concussion, but he did take a positive step on Saturday morning in New York.
The Bruins winger skated Saturday morning at the Bruins’ morning skate ahead of the team’s game with the Islanders. It’s the first time Eriksson has skated since suffering a concussion on Oct. 23 against the Buffalo Sabres.
In other news, the pregame skate has begun on Long Island. It appears Chad Johnson will indeed get the start in net for the Bruins. Kevin Poulin gets the start for the Islanders.
]5 p.m.: As they continue to clear the confetti from the streets of Boston following the Red Sox World Series parade, Boston sports are able to start turning their attention back toward the Bruins.
When they do, they will see a hockey team that is among the best teams in the league this season. That’s despite the fact that they haven’t played their best hockey yet, which also means they haven’t been able to build and sustain any real momentum. That’s in part because of so many off days in the early part of the schedule. That will begin to change now, though, as the Bruins begin a stretch of seven games in the next 13 days.
That stretch begins Saturday night on Long Island where the Bruins are set to take on the New York Islanders. For one of the first times this season, it will be the Bruins benefiting from the schedule. The Isles are coming off of a win Friday night in Ottawa after which they flew back to New York to take on Boston. The Islanders, something of a surprising playoff team a year ago, are off to an average at best start. They enter play Saturday with a 5-5-3 record, which is actually good for second place in the Metropolitan.
The Bruins are looking to build off of a come-from-behind win they got Thursday against the Anaheim Ducks. After playing one of their worst periods in recent memory in the first period, the Bruins came back to tie the game and eventually win a 3-2 decision by way of the shootout.
Puck drop at Nassau is slated for 7 p.m.
