David Pastrnak, Bruce Cassidy Happy To See Bruins Get Power Play Going

It wasn’t all bad news for the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night against the New York Islanders.

The Bruins, who ended up on the losing end of a 2-1 shootout against the Islanders, finally broke their power-play drought with David Pastrnak’s first-period goal. Pastrnak gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead late in the frame before New York scored the game-tying tally in the second and converted two of its three shootout chances to claim the win.

Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy and Pastrnak, though, were looking on the bright side after the game. Both were encouraged by the overall game, and specifically the team’s power-play unit.

“It was big for our power play, obviously been going through some tough times the last couple games so it was good to get the PP going,” Pastrnak told reporters after the game.

“We just said we got to move more, fill each other’s spots and just try to be on the move,” Pastrnak added. “That’s when we recover pucks. It’s been a while since we had some puck possession in their zone for a while, so it was good to get the (power play) going. Hopefully we carry that over.”

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The Bruins had failed to capitalize on power play opportunities in each of their previous six games.

Boston’s first power play chance resulted in Pastrnak’s goal at with 27 seconds left in the opening period. It came after Charlie Coyle caused a tripping penalty on New York’s Anders Lee. Bruins blueliner Jarred Tinordi later drew a boarding penalty against Islanders’ Oliver Wahlstrom.

Boston put on some relentless pressure during that man-advantage, but Islanders goaltender Semyon Varlamov came away with a few highlight-reel stops including an incredible stick save on David Krejci. That’s not a save that’s usually made, as Cassidy explained.

Cassidy further expressed how the Bruins made a few adjustments to the special teams unit including moving Brad Marchand in front of the net where Nick Ritchie had been. It encouraged more movement, as both Pastrnak and Cassidy said, and ultimately was more successful with the Bruins’ pursuit of the puck.

“Yeah, I liked our power play,” Cassidy told reporters after the game. “… I thought we looked better on it in terms of our execution, puck recovery and support and then second chances.”

The 13-6-4 Bruins look to keep that going when they host the New York Rangers at TD Garden on Thursday.