Bruins vs. Islanders 1/18/23 RECAP: Bruins play Islanders tight until pulling away in the 3rd

Time to hop boroughs and finish this road trip off!

First Period:

The first period was a back and forth affair, with both sides trading chances with the Islanders getting the lion’s share...and eventually they got the opening tally with Zach Parise putting a crazy one timer past Ullmark.

Man what a strange bounce. 1-0 Islanders.

Other than Ullmark being the Vezina finalist he’s ended up being, we move on to the Second!

Second Period:

The Bruins got on the board 8 minutes into the period with a Charlie McAvoy rocket that came in hot off a typically smooth Gryz pass. 1-1 Bruins!

Gryz was, incidentally, had come off of a grand and quick tour of the offensive zone. Something that is real and fun.

Then...DEREK FORBORT happened! Popping the puck in off a rare rebound of Varlamov! 2-1 Bruins!

Seriously, great move by both Krejci and Forbort on that one. Could’ve been either.

Then, we move onto the third period!

Third Period:

The Bruins got a scare very early on as Patrice Bergeron took a puck up high and had to be skated to the bench (mercifully under his own power) that was slightly avenged by none other than Brad Marchand. 3-1 Bruins!

Bergeron would return but...man, that looked painful.

And to cap it all off, Trent Frederic finished the game with a solid tally off of Coyle’s excellent pass. 4-1 Bruins!

The Bruins would hold that score, and grab two points in a 4-1 win!

Game Notes:

• Your TOI leader was Derek Forbort, who had 22:10 tonight on one of his better games of the year!
• This was a rare game for the Islanders in that they didn’t spend most of the game chasing it, but the Bruins definitely had their hands full when it came to them; both sides played each other very well and it was largely meted out by goaltending...and also some mercurial puck management by the Bruins’ stars. It really was tighter than the score suggests, it was just also a typical Boston Bruins third period, so it didn’t matter.
• The aim of team discipline is to keep the ref out of the result of the game, and for the most part the Boston Bruins did that. Though St. Laurent and McCauley sure as shit tried to inject themselves into it with some very creative interpretations of calls. It made for quite the game in terms of special teams play.
• DEREK FORBORT! Great eyes on the big fella getting to that puck off a hell of a rebound. He actually had a pretty solid game for someone typically expected to just backcheck and shotblock by the eye-test.
• David Krejci also brings his last 5 game point total up to seven with an assist on Forbort’s tally. Sure he got most of them in clumps of three, but that’s still pretty impressive.
• Trent Frederic has been slowly building himself into a quality depth forward and he got to the double digit goal total for the first time in his career, as well as tying his career best in points. Great little night for him, and hopefully the harbinger of many more in the near future.
• Ullmark for Vezina please and thank you. Can’t even be mad at some weird Zach Parise knucklepuck that got past him. Finishing your night with a .962 SV% where the Islanders really brought it is what matters.
• Pleaaaaaase be okay, Patrice. Or if not, pleaaaaaase wear the fishbowl or the cage. We want you to be healthy for this last stretch? If at all possible?

No rest for the wicked, as the B’s are right back at it against the Rangers tomorrow. That game is on at 7pm ET. See you right back here!