There was no third-period comeback Thursday night.
The Boston Bruins dropped their first game back from an exciting win in Lake Tahoe, 7-2, to the Islanders after New York exploded for five goals in the third.
Boston was strong through 40 minutes, but some costly mistakes in its own zone in the third didn’t help any.
Nick Ritchie and Craig Smith scored for the Bruins, while Adam Pelech, Mathew Barzal, Anthony Beauvillier, Jordan Eberle, J.G. Pageau, Anders Lee and Oliver Wahlstrom accounted for the Islanders’ tallies.
With the loss, the Bruins fell to 11-4-2, while the Islanders moved to 10-6-9.
Here’s how it all went down:
FAST-PACED FIRST
It didn’t take long for the B’s to get on the board as Ritchie potted goal No. 7 just 1:02 into the game on a beautiful backhanded assist from Jakub Zboril.
But the Islanders evened things up just two minutes later when Pelech potted the rebound by Halak.
Barzal gave the Isles the lead with 7:13 left in the opening period wristed the puck by Halak top corner for the 2-1 edge.
The Bruins outshot New York 13-8 at the end of one.
TIED AFTER TWO
Jake DeBrusk looked destined to tie the game with about 13 minutes left in the second period, but Varlamov denied him to keep the Isles’ lead intact.
But it was Smith who potted the game-tying goal with a pass deflected off Matt Martin’s stick and into the net.
Boston continued to outshoot the Islanders 28-19 after 40 minutes.
ISLES SCORE FOUR EN ROUTE TO WIN
New York reclaimed the lead with 14:17 when Beauvillier picked Trent Frederic’s pocket to bury the puck for the 3-2 lead.
And the Islanders never looked back after that.
Eberle doubled the lead with 9:15 to go with a nice move in transition from Barzal to make it 4-2.
But New York wasn’t done yet.
Pageau, who scored in the Islanders’ last two meetings with the Bruins, went top shelf on Halak to widen the lead to 5-2.
Lee scored New York’s third goal in a 3:59 span to make it a 6-2 game.
Then it was Wahlstrom’s turn to add to the lead with a goal of his own.
And that was more than enough to seal the win.
UP NEXT
The Bruins stay in New York but travel to Madison Square Garden to take on the Rangers on Friday night. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. ET.
