For all of the Barclays Center’s faults as a hockey venue, it’s been kind to the Boston Bruins this season.
The Bruins remained unbeaten in the New York Islanders’ new home building Sunday, getting goals from Ryan Spooner and Patrice Bergeron and a stellar performance from Tuukka Rask in a slump-busting 2-1 victory.
The win allowed Boston to salvage the finale of a frustrating three-game road trip, which included losses to the Washington Capitals on Thursday and Montreal Canadiens on Saturday.
FIRST PERIOD
Claude Julien made some alterations to his forward lines for the game, somewhat surprisingly dropping winger Brad Marchand to the third unit and elevating Matt Beleskey to the first.
Marchand has been a mainstay on Patrice Bergeron’s line for years, but he’d struggled during the Bruins’ three-game losing streak, failing to record a point and posting a minus-3 rating.
The new-look lineup appeared to work in the early going, as each of the top three lines generated multiple first-period scoring chances. On one particularly active shift, Marchand nearly put a backhander past Islanders goaltender Jaroslav Halak and a few seconds later drew a tripping call, giving the Bruins’ red-hot power play its first chance of the evening.
A delay of game penalty just 15 seconds into the man advantage turned it into a 5-on-3, and a perfect tic-tac-toe pass from Bergeron to David Krejci to Spooner yielded the game’s first goal.
The Bruins have scored a power-play goal in each of their last seven games.
SECOND PERIOD
The Islanders controlled the flow of play for much of the second, highlighted by one shift against Boston’s fourth line and bottom pairing that included upward of 90 seconds in the Bruins’ zone.
New York was unable to put one past Rask, however, and the Bruins beat Halak with 5:47 left in the frame to go up 2-0. Bergeron did the honors, firing a shot that deflected off two Islanders defensemen before hitting the back of the net.
Kevan Miller and Marchand were credited with assists.
Big saves by Rask and Halak in the period’s final minute preserved the 2-0 score line heading into the third.
THIRD PERIOD
The lack of discipline that killed the Bruins in losses to the Capitals and Canadiens made an unwelcome return in the final period.
The Bruins were able to kill off a Bergeron holding penalty and a cross-checking call on Torey Krug. But after Kevan Miller (high-sticking) and Joonas Kemppainen (faceoff violation) both were sent to the box in one 16-second span, Boston’s much-maligned PK unit finally cracked.
Former Bruins defenseman Johnny Boychuk beat Rask on the ensuing 5-on-3 to cut New York’s deficit to one.
That’s all the Islanders would get, however. Rask finished with 36 saves to pick up his fourth win of the season, and the Bruins kept the Islanders off the scoreboard in six of their seven power-play opportunities.
Also standing out for Boston was rookie Frank Vatrano, who did not factor into the scoring but recorded five shots on goal to go along with two hits and two takeaways in his second NHL game.
UP NEXT
The Bruins now will enjoy three days without a game before hosting the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday at TD Garden.
READ: Line change spurs Marchand; Rask “feels good” >>
Thumbnail photo via Kathy Kmonicek/Associated Press
