The Bruins held a 2-0 edge late in the second period, but gave up 4 unanswered goals as the New York Islanders skated past the Bruins 4-2 at Nasseau Coliseum in Uniondale, NY on Friday night.
Nathan Horton's 20th goal of the season put the Bruins up 1-0 at 16:29 of the first period. Some great puck movement by the B's opened things up and led to Horton's marker. Milan Lucic took a pass from David Krejci in the slot and fired a shot on Al Montoya. The rebound from Lucic's bid kicked out into the slot, where Nathan Horton was driving to the net. Horton kicked the puck with his skate to the blade of his stick and slipped a backhander past Montoya for the 1-0 lead.
The Bruins finally scored a power play goal (granted, it was on a 5-on-3 advantage) to make it 2-0 13:02 into the second period. Tomas Kaberle moved the puck from the left point down to David Krejci below the goal line. Krejci then sent a diagonal pass through the middle of the offensive zone to Zdeno Chara at the right point. Chara's hard slapper made its way past Montoya for his 12th goal of the season and the Bruins first power play goal in 9 games.
With Brad Marchand off for a an interference call, Matt Moulson got the Islanders on the scoresheet with just 2 seconds left in the middle period. John Tavares had the puck in "Gretzky's Office" and fed a pass to Moulson just below the right circle. Moulson's quick chip shot beat Thomas on the near side to cut the Bruins' lead in half before the 2nd intermission.
The Islanders came out with a ton of energy early in the third period. Michael Grabner got the equalizer for the home team 1:28 into the third period. Tim Thomas dropped down into the butterfly early and Grabner's shot trickled through Thomas' pads for his 28th goal of the season.
The Isles kept the pressure on and netted the go-ahead goal at 5:58 of the third period. Jack Hillen's point shot made it through traffic (and may have deflected off of Dennis Seidenberg in front of the net) and into the back of the night.
The Islanders iced the 4-2 win on a rarely seen call. P.A. Parenteau was breaking into the offensive zone with the puck and a clear path to an empty net. In a desperation move to slow up Parenteau, Patrice Bergeron hooked the Islanders forward. The referee immediately awarded an automatic goal to the Islanders to give New York a 4-2 lead with less than 10 second left on the game clock.
Notes:
- Before the teams filed off the ice for the second intermission, Shawn Thornton shared some heated words and a stare down with Zenon Konopka after the buzzer. Cooler heads prevailed and there were no further incidents between the two players.
- For the second night in a row, the Bruins blew a 2-goal lead.
- This is the first time that the Bruins have failed to collect points after having a 2-goal lead.
- The B's are now 1 for their last 21 on the power play.
- The Bruins gave up 41 shots tonight and 45 shots last night against Buffalo. The guys in front of Thomas need to step it up and limit the amount of rubber that get through to their goaltender. You are not going to win many games when you are give up that many shots.
- Tyler Seguin was a healthy scratch again tonight. I think Seguin would learn a lot more from playing in the AHL than sitting in the press box, but unfortunately junior leagues are more concerned with making money off children than the development of its players.
- Patrice Bergeron finished the night at -3.
- The Bruins are off until Tuesday when they travel to Columbus to take on the Blue Jackets.
- For more on tonight's action on The Island, check in with our friends over at Lighthouse Hockey
"I didn't think we were a very smart hockey team tonight at all"
Claude Julien
...You said it CJ.