Bruins Notes: Boston’s Special Teams Power Win Over Islanders

If there’s anything to nitpick in a 4-1 win for the Bruins over the New York Islanders on Wednesday night at UBS Arena it is the fact the Bruins committed six penalties.

But with the way the Bruins are playing, they ultimately turned the infractions into a positive.

The Bruins’ league-leading penalty kill rose to the occasion, shutting down all six of the Islanders’ power-play opportunities as Boston’s special teams were a contributing factor in improving its record to 35-5-4.

“They’ve been a strength of our group all year,” Bruins star winger Brad Marchand told NESN’s Adam Pellerin, as seen on the network’s postgame coverage. “We’ve always been strong on the PK. The (power play) has been really hot lately. Need that to continue. Definitely something that you need to win games down the stretch and coming into playoff time.”

Derek Forbort and Charlie Coyle led the penalty-kill unit to keep New York scoreless on the man advantage. Forbort, who scored with nine minutes left in the second period to break a 1-1 deadlock, was particularly key when Boston went shorthanded. He logged a team-high 6:48 of ice time on the penalty kill and blocked a game-best six shots.

But it was a complete effort from Boston’s special teams as the Bruins also scored on the power play in the final frame thanks to Marchand.

Marchand’s tally, coming off an assist from David Pastrnak with 14:57 left, was a knockout blow and Bruins coach Jim Montgomery certainly is appreciative of how he can construct both units.

“It’s important that you get those goals in key moments,” Montgomery told Jack Edwards and Andy Brickley, as seen on NESN postgame coverage. “I think my favorite aspect of the power play is the players that are on it.”

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Jan 18, 2023

Here are more notes from Wednesday’s Bruins-Islanders game:

— Linus Ullmark continues to shine between the pipes as he stymied the Islanders by making 25 saves, including some stellar stops in the first period when the Bruins came out sluggish. The win marked the 100th of Ullmark’s career as he improved his record to 24-2-1 this season.

“Well, I got to share it with the probably the most special group in this league, so I couldn’t be more happy,” Ullmark told reporters on reaching the milestone, as seen on NESN postgame coverage.

— The toughness of Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron goes unquestioned. Bergeron had to head down the tunnel in the third period — always an alarming sight for Bruins fans — when a puck deflected off a shot from Pastrnak and hit Bergeron squarely in the face. While Bergeron clearly was in pain, he returned to the bench less than two minutes later.

“The admiration I have and everybody has for him coming back to try to help the team win after that is immense,” Montgomery said. “We’re hoping that all the X-rays come back good.”

— Trent Frederic capped the scoring for the Bruins off a feed from Charlie Coyle with less than five minutes remaining. It was Frederic’s 10th goal of the season and his 18th point, which ties his career high.

— The Bruins won 35 games in the second-fastest span in NHL history, needing only 44 games to do so.

— The Bruins stay in New York for one more day as they take on the New York Rangers in the second leg of a back-to-back Thursday night. Puck drop from Madison Square Garden is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET, and you can watch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.