Bruins score in OT to beat Islanders
UNIONDALE, N.Y. — Brad Marchand knew he didn’t have a great angle on his shot in overtime. He just fired the puck at the net and it got past Islanders goalie Semyon Varlamov.
Marchand scored 3:36 into overtime and the Boston Bruins beat New York 2-1 Thursday night in Game 3 to take the lead in the second-round playoff series.
In the extra period, Charlie McAvoy brought the puck up ice along the left side and passed to Marchand, who skated along the boards and fired a sharp-angle shot into the top right corner.
“Obviously not a great one, but any puck, especially in overtime, has the chance to go in,” Marchand said. “Can’t pass up a shot, and that’s another example of it . ... I tried to get it on net and it found its way in. Very relieving.”
Varlamov wasn’t sure what happened on the shot and said he needed to see a replay.
“It was a weird shot, but the puck found the net,” he said.
Craig Smith also scored for Boston, and Tuukka Rask stopped 28 shots — including five in overtime, as the Bruins took a 2-1 lead in the best-ofseven series.
“I try to be patient and calm in there,” Rask said. “It doesn’t matter what the situation is. You’re just trying to make that save and give your team a chance to win, and fortunately we capitalized after.”
Mathew Barzal scored the tying goal late in the third period for New York, and Varlamov — making his second straight start after Ilya Sorokin went in four straight games — finished with 39 saves. Game 4 is Saturday night at Nassau Coliseum. second-round series.
Staal scored with Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov serving a penalty for holding the stick. Carolina cut Tampa Bay’s series lead to 2-1, with Game 4 on Saturday.
Carolina coach Rob Brind’Amour changed goaltenders, opting for Petr Mrazek after Alex Nedeljkovic started the first eight games of the playoffs. Mrazek stopped 35 shots.
Sebastien Aho and Brett Pesce also scored also scored for Carolina. Brayden Point and Alex Killorn had power-play goals for Tampa Bay. The Hurricanes did something they were unable to do in the opening two games on home ice — score first.
The first lead of the series for the Hurricanes came courtesy of Pesce, who one-timed a shot from above the right circle off a feed from Andrei Svechnikov at 5:15 of the second period. It’s the first time Carolina opened the scoring since Game 2 against the Nashville Predators in the opening round and the first lead for the Hurricanes since Game 4.
It also was the first 5-on-5 goal scored by Carolina in the series and the first one Tampa Bay had allowed since the second period of Game 5 against the Florida Panthers.