Bruins blow two-goal lead, fall in OT in front of limited Garden crowd

Nick Leddy’s shot leaked through Jaroslav Halak and Anthony Beauvillier cleaned up the loose puck 21 seconds into overtime to lift the New York Islanders to a 4-3 win at the Garden on Thursday, their fifth in five tries this year against the Bruins.

Oliver Wahlstrom had given the Islanders their first lead of the game with 2:56 remaining in the third period. Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s pass got through David Krejci in the slot and Wahlstrom roofed a backhander for a 3-2 lead.

But the B’s found their work boots in time and got the equalizer on a strong shift by the third line 42 seconds later. Chris Wagner kept a puck alive down low and Charlie Coyle fed Anders Bjork out front for his second of the year.

But the B’s could only settle for the one point in OT.

After cutting the B’s two-goal lead in half in the second period, the Islanders tied it up at 4:33 of the third. After an extended shift in the B’s zone, Josh Bailey lost Bjork high in the zone to receive Brock Nelson’s feed and he snapped it past Halak, playing in relief of an injured Tuukka Rask.

The night began so much more pleasantly for the B’s.

There was a lot more empty space there than were fans in the building, but for such a small smattering of humanity, the 2,191 spectators made it feel like something close to a genuine home game.

And the B’s responded in kind, playing a very good first period and taking a 2-0 lead. Charlie McAvoy led the way with a couple of primary assists and two penalties drawn, one of which led to a power-play goal.

Karson Kuhlman got the ball rolling with his first of the year. Matt Grzelcyk picked off an Islanders breakout pass and dished it up to Bjork at the blue line. He handed off to McAvoy, who took it deep down the right side and dished it over to Kuhlman over on the left boards. He faked a pass to the point, losing Beauvillier in the process, and then fired it on net. With Coyle providing a good screen, the puck eluded Semyon Varlamov for the 1-0 lead at 12:42.

Casey Cizikas then tripped McAvoy in the Boston zone and the B’s went on their first power play. With the seconds ticking off the advantage, McAvoy fed Steven Kampfer at nearly the same spot from where Kuhlman scored, and Kampfer ripped a one-timer past Varlamov for the 2-0 lead at 17:35.

The B’s stayed on the attack and a McAvoy rush down the right boards forced Michael Dal Colle to take a tripping penalty, but the B’s could not do further damage.

The night very nearly went sideways for the B’s 1:49 into the game when Grzelcyk was called for high-sticking Mathew Barzal. Barzal was bleeding and it would have been a double-minor, but a video review showed that it was actually Islander Jordan Eberle’s stick that clipped Barzal.

The good vibes for the B’s did not last through the second period, however. First, Rask, who’d stopped all six first-period shots he faced in his first game back since suffering what appeared to be a back injury on March 7, could not come out for the second. The team announced his ailment as “upper body” and Halak came on in relief.

Still, the B’s were given a great chance to put the hammer down when Scott Mayfield took a double-minor high-sticking penalty on Patrice Bergeron.

They couldn’t score on the four minutes of man-up time and, wouldn’t you know it, the Islanders halved the Bruins lead just seconds after Mayfield left the box. Mayfield joined a rush with Leo Komarov and Pageau to make it a three-on-two against McAvoy and Connor Clifton. Komarov’s pass went off Mayfield’s skate and went right to the trailer Pageau. With an open net, the Bruin killer did not miss, cutting the lead in half at 7:21.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3tOV974