Marc McLaughlin scored in his season debut, but it was too little, too late as Kyle Palmieri and the Islanders rolled to a dominant win.
Marc McLaughlin scored in his season debut, but it was too little, too late as Kyle Palmieri and the Islanders rolled to a dominant win.
The Boston Bruins went down early and never recovered, falling 5-1 to the New York Islanders at UBS Arena on Saturday.
Islanders forward Kyle Palmieri completed a natural hat trick just 12:19 into the first period, and New York cruised from there to end Boston’s seven-game point streak (3-0-4).
Marc McLaughlin scored the lone goal in his season debut for Boston, which dropped to 35-13-14. Linus Ullmark made 22 saves.
The Islanders took a 1-0 lead when Palmieri slipped behind Mason Lohrei and caught Noah Dobson’s stretch pass right at the blue line before beating Ullmark at 3:32 of the first period.
Palmieri doubled the Islanders’ lead on the power play less than two minutes later, rebounding Bo Horvat’s shot which was blocked by Parker Wotherspoon and fell to Palmieri on the left side.
Palmieri made it 3-0 at 12:19, rebounding Ryan Pulock’s shot to close out an extended offensive zone sequence.
Any opportunity to win back momentum in the second period was snuffed out when Anders Lee pushed it to 4-0 just 46 seconds in. Charlie McAvoy blocked the initial shot but collided into Ullmark, which allowed Lee to follow it up and tap it into the exposed net.
Brock Nelson made it 5-0 at 10:24 of the second after Bo Horvat forced a Brandon Carlo turnover and fed Nelson in front from the left corner boards.
McLaughlin got Boston on the board at 14:30. McAvoy joined the rush, faked a shot off James van Riemsdyk’s pass and found McLaughlin for a one-timer on the left side.
The Islanders outshot Boston 25-14 through two periods, and while the Bruins had a 10-2 advantage in the third period, it didn’t amount to anything – and was largely a result of New York simply protecting their lead.
The Bruins travel to Toronto to face the Maple Leafs on Monday at 7 p.m.
Other Links:
‘All I Could Ask For And More’: Morgan Geekie On Being A Bruin, First Hat Trick