The much maligned Boston Bruins offense had been as rotten as their jockstraps the past four games, scoring just 4 goals combined. Tonight they turned the tide against the New York Islanders by scoring SIX goals in tonight's game against New York goalie Ilya Sorokin. Less than one minute into the game Brad Marchand set the tone for the game with a goal and just over five minutes later, he scored again. Two goal leads are the worst in hockey and tonight was no different as Maxim Tsyplakov and Brock Nelson scored to tie the game. Morgan Geekie scored his second of the season but Nelson answered to tie the game going into the third. Then it was the Pavel Zacha show as he scored twice in two and a half minutes to put the game away. Nikita Zadorov got the empty net goal, Joonas Korpisalo held the Islanders scoreless in the final twenty minutes and the Bruins got back in the winning column with a 6-3 win at the UBS Center.
56 seconds into the game Elias Lindholm took the faceoff in the Islanders zone and dumped it to Brad Marchand, the captain scoring on a one timer to give the Bruins the lead. Less than a minute later Pavel Zacha dished the puck to Lindholm for a one timer but Sorokin stopped it. Four minutes into the game Joonas Korpisalo stopped a shot from the point by Dennis Cholowski. Just over four minutes into the game, Zacha found Mark Kastelic but was unable to jam it home. Then the Bruins caught the Islanders asleep when Lindholm passed it up to Justin Brazeau who left the puck to Marchand, scoring his second goal of the period to put the Bruins up by two. Then with just over seven minutes left in the period, Parker Wotherspoon passed it off the boards right to Brock Nelson, who found Maxim Tsyplakov all alone in front to score a goal. Just a lazy play by Wotherspoon. Less than thirty seconds later, Kastelic tried to pass the puck to Cole Koepke but it went through his legs right to Oliver Wahlstrom. Thankfully Korpisalo denied the back hand attempt but that was two terrible turnovers in under a minute. Bo Horvat fired it right to Korpisalo off the faceoff then Joonas denied Tsyplakov. With 3:10 remaining, Morgan Geekie dished it to Zacha but Sorokin denied the shot attempt. Brandon Carlo was also stopped by Sorokin with 101 seconds left in the period. Pastrnak too was denied with one minute left in the period as the Bruins ended the period still up 2-1.
Marchand means business tonight
Marchand damn near got a hat trick just 34 seconds into the second period but Sorokin just got a pad blocker on the shot attempt. The Islanders completed the inevitable when Brock Nelson blew by Mason Lohrei and fired the puck past Korpisalo to tie the game just under nine minutes into the period. Three minutes later the Bruins answered when Pastrnak passed it to Zacha who found Geekie wide open in the slot. Geekie fired it into the net for just his second goal of the season to put the Bruins back on top 3-2. The Bruins went into shell mode for the rest of the period and strangely there weren't any penalties either. With 7 seconds left in the period, Nelson skated right past Zadorov and McAvoy to score the game tying goal, going into intermission tied 3-3.
Korpisalo made the biggest save of the night on a 3 on 2 rush just under four minutes into the third period. Horvat dished it to Jean Gabriel-Pageau who dished it back to Horvat for a one timer....stopped by Joonas. The Bruins took control of the game halfway through the period when Andrew Peeke fired it on net, tipped home by Zacha to put Boston back on top with 9:12 remaining. Less than three minutes later, Zadorov passed it behind the net to Pastrnak. David threw it in front of the net and Zacha happened to be there to bang it home for the big insurance goal with 6:37 remaining. Suddenly the referees decided to call a penalty when Zadorov got called for a borderline cross check call on Anders Lee with 4:10 left. With three minutes left, Islanders coach Patrick Roy pulled Sorokin for the 6 on 4 advantage. The Bruins held fast as Lindholm took the puck, passed it to McAvoy who fired it up the boards as time expired. Zadorov just happened to be coming out of the box and he casually swept the puck into the empty net for the final goal with 2:02 left. That was it and the Bruins had won the game 6-3.
Reaction:
Its about damn time the Bruins figured out how to score goals again. Yes it was against Ilya Sorokin but good goals are good goals. Charlie McAvoy said after last night's disaster that "the damn is gonna break" and it took less than 24 hours for it to happen. Marchand and especially Zacha needed to step up and they did. The Geekie goal was big too because the Bruins had blown a two goal lead and momentum could have slipped away. Kudos to Korpisalo for stoning the Islanders cold in the third period as well. Another interesting factor is there was only one penalty in the entire game and it was a pretty soft call. It was only fair Zadorov came out of the box to score the empty netter. The offense could still use an uplift (Fabian Lysell) in the long run but for one night, it looked to be back on track. With Jeremy Swayman appearing to shake off the rust, the Bruins might be fine after all. The win improved the Bruins to 11-10-3, good for 25 points and just three back of the Toronto Maple Leafs for first place in the Atlantic Division (Toronto does have two games in hand). The Bruins now play a Black Friday showdown against the Pittsburgh Penguins at home. The game begins at 6:30 PM at TD Garden.
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