The Point of No Return in Bruins’ 5-1 Loss to Islanders
The Boston Bruins looked brutal from the jump against the New York Islanders on Saturday, but this moment sealed their fate.
Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports - The Point of No Return in Bruins’ 5-1 Loss to IslandersThe Boston Bruins’ last two games had a distinct similarity despite different results. Against the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday, the Bruins built up a 3-0 lead in the first period before Vegas eventually tied it 4-4. The Bruins ultimately won 5-4 thanks to Mason Lohrei’s go-ahead goal.
On Saturday against the New York Islanders, the Bruins ended the first period trailing 3-0 after Kyle Palmieri netted a natural hat trick. However this time, there was no comeback attempt.
The Islanders tacked on two more goals to make it 5-0, and Marc McLaughlin tacked on a meaningless goal in his season debut to spoil Ilya Sorokin’s shutout bid for the 5-1 final.
A 3-0 hole after 20 minutes obviously isn’t ideal, but it’s not impossible to overcome. The Bruins knew that just looking at their last game. With the right adjustments during the first intermission, Boston needed just one goal to make it a two-score game and keep things within reach.
“We had to be more emotionally engaged and needed to have a better response,” Bruins captain Brad Marchand told reporters on Long Island. “We knew that the first period wasn’t acceptable by our standards.”
So with that in mind, the Bruins went out for the second period… and allowed a fourth goal just 46 seconds in.
With all three forwards caught up ice after a wide shot and Charlie McAvoy pinching up on Islanders captain Anders Lee at New York’s blue line, Palmieri was sprung on a 2-on-1 rush with Jean-Gabriel Pageau.
McAvoy caught up with Palmieri from behind, but he dished it to the open Pageau in the right circle. Pageau sent it back to Lee, who was able to get a shot off since Jake DeBrusk was slow to get back into the play. The shot hit McAvoy while he collided with Linus Ullmark, who was trying to make the save. With the two tangled up, Lee was able to rebound the puck into an open net.
Everything here – the score line, the timing of the goal, the lack of effort on the play – effectively put the nail in the coffin despite there being 39:14 still left to be played. Despite a full break with the opportunity to set a new tone and work to get back into the game, the Bruins showed no response and effectively waved the white in the first minute of the second period.
There's no guarantee the Bruins would tie the game even if the Islanders didn't score that early, but a better effort in the final 40 minutes could have saved the game from being a complete disaster.
After outshooting Boston 15-8 in the first period, the Islanders had a 10-6 shots advantage in the second period and generated a handful of odd-man rushes to keep the Bruins chasing all night.
“When we have our opportunities to keep the puck out in the neutral zone or keep it out of [the] defensive zone, we need to do a little bit better job there,” Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo said. “But our transition to defense definitely needs to be a little bit better.”
There have been moments where the Bruins lacked effort recently, but it often came while leading in the third period and taking their foot off the gas. Saturday marked arguably their worst start-to-finish performance of the season.
Boston got the lead-blowing monkey off its back on Thursday – kind of – but the response on Monday against a strong Toronto Maple Leafs team will be even more important, especially with the trade deadline less than a week away.
“We just weren’t good enough and weren’t firm enough,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said. “Didn’t start the game on time, so it’s one of those games where, for whatever reason, we weren’t very good, and we got to move on to Toronto now and get ready for a team that’s playing really well.”
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