BRU’ HOUSED
Isles handled again by Boston
The Islanders had a golden chance to get a small measure of revenge Thursday night.
And they failed to take advantage of it, falling to the red-hot Bruins, 5-2, at Barclays Center.
Boston (26-10-8) completed its season sweep of the Islanders (23-20-4), winning all three meetings by a combined score of 13-4.
The Bruins, who got a hat trick from Patrice Bergeron, are riding a league-best 15-game point streak and remain the only Eastern team the Isles have not beaten at Barclays Center, dating to the start of the 2015-16 campaign.
With the Bruins having played the Canadiens on Wednesday and the Islanders seemingly getting a boost from the return of All-Star winger Josh Bailey, this seemed like the perfect opportunity for a change of fortune.
Instead the Islander let an encouraging start go to waste and have now dropped two in a row before heading on the road, where they are just 10-13-1 on the season.
Dazzling rookie Matthew Barzal (48 points) helped provide an early spark, threading the needle on a beautiful feed to Jordan Eberle, who finished the job with his 15th goal of the season at the 7:35 mark of the opening period. The Bruins returned the favor six minutes later, as the 32-year-old Bergeron got his productive night started by firing one past Islanders goalie Jaroslav Halak to make it 1-1.
Even though things went downhill from the Islanders from there, with the Bruins seizing a 3-1 advantage in the second period on goals from Ryan Spooner and Bergeron (on the power play), coach Doug Weight said he was impressed with his team’s effort up until the final frame, when the frustration mounted.
“The first two periods were excellent,” he said. “We were physical, we had some really good things we did [Wednesday at practice] and the guys bought in. We lost our way a bit [in the third].”
Several players echoed their coach’s sentiments about the importance of staying composed when adversity strikes.
“We felt like the first period was pretty good,” said Bailey, who played his first game since Jan. 5. “We’re playing good teams. If the roles were reversed, we’d be the ones pushing back in the second like they did. So, it’s just finding a way to weather those storms a little bit better.”