The Islanders seem to be the Bruins’ kryptonite this season.
Boston is 0-3-1 against New York after falling 2-1 in a shootout Tuesday night at Nassau Coliseum. This loss certainly wasn’t due to lack of effort, though.
David Krejci looked poised to make it a 2-0 game, but Semyon Varlamov made an incredible stick save to keep Boston’s lead at one.
After the game, head coach Bruce Cassidy revealed he thought his team was the better side on the ice Tuesday.
“We were the better team, didn’t have much luck around the net,” he said. “Certainly they had a few opportunities. … I liked our team’s effort from start to finish. It was a pretty tight third period, we’ve had issues in our third periods in here the last three times, so we played better. Didn’t generate a lot, but didn’t give up a lot, either. We kept ourselves in the game. As a coach you’re never displeased when your team goes out and plays a strong-structured hockey game. We just couldn’t finish enough plays, or one more play.”
Jaroslav Halak, fresh off a 27-save performance, thought the B’s did a lot of things well, they just didn’t get the result they wanted.
“We played a good game,” he said. “We forechecked well tonight, even the puck placement was much better than last time we were. The result is not there yet. But we are on the right path, we just need to keep playing hard.”
Here are some other notes from Tuesday’s Bruins-Islanders game:
— David Pastrnak scored the lone goal for Boston, marking his 11th of the season while also amassing his 400th career point.
— Jake DeBrusk was a healthy scratch for the first time this season and was replaced by Jack Studnicka, who had been centering the fourth line.
Cassidy liked what he saw from the new-look second line of Nick Ritchie, Krejci and Studnicka.
“We made a decision with Jake (DeBrusk) and we moved (Studnicka) over — he’s always gonna give you maximum effort,” Cassidy said. “I thought Ritchie was excellent with his decisions, pucks through the neutral zone, some big hits, made some plays down below the goal line. And (Krejci) had a little more jump. Tough luck on the power play there, looked like he had a sure goal. … I thought they had a solid game for us. Obviously I’ll have to go back over to see the play away from the puck. … Certainly wasn’t nervous about any matchup. They did their part for sure.”
— There’s no denying the top line of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and Pastrnak have been dominant this season, and that really comes across on the scoresheet.
That first line of Marchand, Bergeron and Pastrnak has scored 32 of the team’s 64 goals this season, according to 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Ty Anderson.
Secondary scoring has been an issue for Boston the last few seasons, as well.
Still, the Black and Gold are getting contributions from Ritchie, but they will need more effort from DeBrusk, Charlie Coyle and Anders Bjork.
— The Bruins have not won a game at Nassau Coliseum this year. But the good news? They won’t have to go back there in 2021 — or ever — as the Islanders will relocate to UBS Arena beginning in the 2021-22 season.
