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Bruins dominate Islanders in shutout victory

March 19, 2019, 10:52 PM ET [16 Comments]
Anthony Travalgia
Boston Bruins Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
From the drop of the puck, to the game’s final buzzer, the Bruins were the better team, and it wasn’t even close.

Tuukka Rask made 13, yes 13 saves, the Bruins got goals from all four lines, and they were as good as you can be in the defensive zone.

Here are some thoughts from the Bruins 5-0 victory in New York.

Bottom-six sets tone with all-around effort

1:12 into the first period Sean Kuraly’s shot from the right faceoff dot trickled through the pads of Islanders goalie Robin Lehner, giving the Bruins the early 1-0 lead. It turned out to be the only goal the Bruins would need.

Head coach Bruce Cassidy often talks about showing up on time, and getting off to good starts.

Kuraly’s goal allowed them to do both.

“I think so, I think we got rewarded tonight, but you don’t always show up on the scoresheet with a good start right away,” said Kuraly. “But it was nice to get rewarded early and we kind of rolled from there.”

The goal was an early indication of how the night would go for both the Bruins and Islanders.

With Kuraly applying pressure on Nick Leddy as he retrieved a puck behind his own net, the pressure forced a weak clearing attempt by Leddy, one that found the stick of Charlie McAvoy who fed Kuraly for his seventh of the season. Chris Wagner’s screen of Lehner was perfectly timed.

The bottom two lines continued to haunt the Islanders with pressure all night as Kurlay later managed to pick up his second of the night. The goal came after Noel Acciari’s unassisted goal extended the Bruins lead to two. Acciari's tally came from an unforced Cal Clutterbuck turnover.

As much as the entire bottom-six set the tone for the Bruins, it was Kuraly who came out buzzing with several high danger chances in his first few shifts.

“He has to be one of the lead sled dogs, in terms of playing north hockey, and Chris Wagner is good at that too, they’ve been a good pair whether they’ve played wings with Noel or whoever gets thrown in there,” added Cassidy.

“They’re hard to play against because of their ability to possess the puck and also get it behind you and make you earn your way back up the ice.”

A textbook 60-minute effort

Coaches and players often talk about the importance of having solid 60-minute efforts each night, the Bruins had arguably their best Tuesday night.

“Yeah, probably. In terms of possession and the worry-meter for the coach, usually you see what’s happening before maybe the bad comes you start to sense uh-oh, but we never really got away from it,” said Cassidy.

The Bruins were especially sharp in the opening period, outshooting the Islanders 14-2. New York did not register their second shot until there was a little over three minutes left in the frame.

Sometimes the final shot count is not always indicative of how the game went, but in this one the 39-13 shot total perfectly describes how this one went. The heatmap does as well.






David Pastrnak returns, and returns to Bergeron line

After missing the last 16 games with a hand injury, Pastrnak returned to the Bruins lineup in New York, firing three shots on goal in 14:19 of time on ice.

Pastrnak didn’t look too much off his game, a little here and a little there was all Cassidy really noticed.

“Rust, good legs, puck was finding him. Looked like he was half a second off in his decisions, little off in his shots, but I like that we won the game and we didn’t have to press him into any more minutes necessary,” said Cassidy. “He was able to find his game, like I said without a lot of pressure on him, if we are down a goal to go out there and get one. So, worked out well for everybody.”

Wearing a splint on his left thumb—one he will be wearing for at least the nine remaining regular season games, Pastrnak didn’t seem to be too hampered by the change in feel of his left hand.

Physically and pain-wise, Pastrnak said he felt great following the victory.

With Marcus Johansson still out of the lineup due to a lung contusion, Cassidy decided to reunite Pastrnak with Bergeron and Brad Marchand after Pastrnak spent a handful of games on a line with Jake DeBrusk and David Krejci prior to his thumb injury.

If there was any worry about Pastrnak’s stick-handiling or shooting being affected by the injury, there was nothing I saw Tuesday that would lead me to believe his injury will be an issue.

The Bruins were 12-3-1 in Pastrnak’s absence.

Bruins get some help

The Toronto Maple Leafs were shutout in Nashville, 3-0. The Bruins lead Toronto by six points in the race for home-ice advantage in their first round playoff series.

Both teams have nine games remaining.
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