Bruins beat Islanders in OT, 3-2

The Bruins needed one point against the New York Islanders to clinch third place in the East Division and a date with the Washington Capitals on Monday at the Garden.

They did their job, and a little more. After securing the point in regulation, Taylor Hall slipped a self-pass between the legs of Nick Leddy and then beat Ilya Sorokin with a backhander to lift the B’s to a 3-2 victory in front of 4,565 fans at the Garden in their regular season home finale.

The B’s dominated the first period (17-4 shot advantage), thanks in large part to Hall, who was turbocharged from the drop of the puck. He drew two penalties, first a hold on Ryan Pulock. The B’s did everything on that power play but score, with Semyon Varlamov doing his usual standout job against the B’s.

Hall then forced Leddy to hold him at 17:55 and the B’s continued to apply pressure, but it wasn’t until Leo Komarov decided to make David Pastrnak a pin-cushion did the B’s finally break through on the scoreboard.

With Leddy already in the box, Komarov first slashed Pastrnak and then after play was stopped, he butt-ended the B’s sniper in the gut, knocking the wind out of the Bruin enough for trainer Don Del Negro to come out to attend. He would be fine, and Komarov earned a double-minor.

On the ensuing 5-on-3, it was Hall who fittingly broke the ice, taking a long feed across the goal mouth from David Krejci and burying a one-timer under Varlamov’s glove with 38 seconds left in the period.

But the B’s would lose a good chunk of their advantage when Charlie McAvoy could not keep a puck in at the blue line and had to hook Casey Cizikas from taking off on a breakaway with nine seconds left in the period. As it was, Cizikas got off a decent backhander that hit the post to Tuukka Rask’s right.

If the McAvoy penalty wasn’t enough to squander the momentum, then Hall’s own penalty – a retaliatory crosscheck on Leddy after Pulock drove him into the boards – did the trick early in the second.

On the 4-on-3 at 1:38, Oliver Wahlstrom smoked a shot past Rask, who appeared to get a good look at it but could not get a piece of it.

The B’s worked hard to get their lead back at 6:15. Pastrnak picked Jordan Eberle’s pocket from behind and fed Krejci, who had changed on for Patrice Bergeron. As Krejci moved toward the net with the puck, Brad Marchand got under Pulock to get position at the top of the crease and Krejci found his stick blade for Marchand’s 29th of the year.

But they could not shed the Islanders, who tied it up again at 8:31. The mesmerizing Mat Barzal, who had set up the Wahlstrom goal, wheeled in the high slot and beat Rask over the blocker.

Through two periods, the B’s held a 27-13 shot advantage, but were even on the scoreboard. Sorokin replaced Varlamov to start the third.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3y3KBUI