The Islanders gave up three third period goals to fall 6-3 to the Boston Bruins at UBS Arena.
ELMONT, NY -- The New York Islanders we’re hoping to closeout their home stand with a win to reach .500 before Thanksgiving, while the Boston Bruins were trying to bounce back from Monday’s 2-0 loss to the Vancouver Canucks.
But the Bruins took advantage of some old Islanders habits and scored three third period goals, including a pair from Pavel Zacha to give Boston a 6-3 win.
The game did not start well for the home team as :57 seconds into the first, Brad Marchand scored on a one-timer from the slot following up a Elias Lindholm offensive zone face-off win to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead.
Then the Isles suffered another breakdown as Scott Mayfield, Dennis Cholowski, and Brock Nelson failed to pick up Marchand, who potted his second of the night with 13:29 to play in the first, giving the B's a 2-0 lead.
Patrick Roy quickly called a timeout top settle his club, and it seemed to work.
Soon after, Max Tsyplakov sent a backhander on net and it snuck through Jonas Korpisalo's legs for his Tsyplakov's third goal of the season, 7:10 left in the first
The second period started slowly until Nelson scooped up a loose puck, whisked into the Bruins zone and beat Korpisalo with a laser to tie the game at 2-2 with 8:52 of the second.
But only a few minutes later, Morgan Keekie gave the Bruins a 3-2 lead with 8:01 to play in the second frame.
The teams however would wind up deadlocked at three goals apiece going into the locker room for the second intermission because with 6.5 seconds left as Nelson scored his second of the night.
After 40 minutes, the Islanders led 15-14 in shots.
In the third, the teams continued going back-and-forth with a little more pace, and at the TV timeout 6:18 into the third Islanders still had a two shot advantage leading 19-17.
10:48 into the final stanza, the Bruins took the lead as a Zacha shot deflected into the net to give Boston a 4-3 lead.
Then with 6:37 remaining Zacha scored again from Pasternak giving the Bruins a 5-3 lead.
With 4:10 to go, Nikita Zadarov was called for cross checking giving the Islanders a final chance to get back into the game, however they were unable to convert.
Then with 2:02 remaining the Bruins sealed the deal, as Zadarov scored the empty net goal to closeout the Islanders, 6-3.
The Islanders will travel to Washington to play the Capitals on Friday at 3 PM.