For the fourth time this season the New York Islanders beat the Boston Bruins at Nassau Live at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, but for the first time this season it was in a shootout.
David Pastrnak opened the game’s scoring in the first period and Brock Nelson tied things up in the second period before the Isles beat the Bruins, 2-1, in a shootout.
Semyon Varlamov (12-4-3, 2.03 goals against average, .929 save percentage in 19 games played) made 32 saves on 33 shots faced for a .970 SV% in the shootout win for New York.
Boston goaltender, Jaroslav Halak (5-2-2, 2.08 GAA, .919 SV% in nine games played) stopped 26 out of 27 shots against (.963 SV%) in the shootout loss.
The B’s fell to 13-6-4 (30 points) and dropped to 4th place in the MassMutual NHL East Division, while the Islanders improved to 16-6-4 (36 points) and remained in command of the division lead.
New York head coach, Barry Trotz, managed his 1,700th career regular season game from behind the bench on Tuesday.
He served as the head coach for the Nashville Predators in 1,196 games from 1998-2014 before leading the Washington Capitals in 328 from 2014-18– winning the Stanley Cup in 2018– and joining the Islanders that summer, where he has been from 2018-present in 176 games and counting.
The Bruins were once again without the services of Ondrej Kase (upper body), Kevan Miller (knee), Jeremy Lauzon (fractured left hand) and Brandon Carlo (upper body) on Tuesday night as Tuukka Rask was also unavailable and did not make the trip to Long Island with the team.
Rask re-aggravated a lower body injury from earlier in the season in Sunday’s, 1-0, loss against the New Jersey Devils and was scheduled to have Tuesday night off anyway, so he didn’t travel with the club for their one-game excursion on the road before returning home on Thursday.
Instead, Dan Vladar served as Halak’s backup in New York.
Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy, indicated that Rask’s absence was only “a little maintenance for him” and told reporters that “[h]e’s feeling better, but we just felt why mix in a couple of plane rides when not necessary?” before Tuesday night’s game.
Cassidy left his defensive pairings alone and made two changes among his forward lines against the Islanders, scratching Jake DeBrusk and replacing him with Jack Studnicka on the right side of the second line while re-inserting Sean Kuraly at center on the fourth line.
Carlo, John Moore, Kase, Rask, Lauzon, DeBrusk, Miller, Greg McKegg, Steven Kampfer and Callum Booth were all out of the lineup due to injury, being a healthy scratch or being a member of the taxi squad.
Late in the opening frame, Anders Lee tripped Charlie Coyle and yielded the game’s first power play to Boston at 18:49 of the first period.
Less than a minute later, Pastrnak (11) blasted a one-timer low past Varlamov’s right pad to give the Bruins a, 1-0, lead.
Brad Marchand (16) and Matt Grzelcyk (5) tallied the assists on Pastrnak’s power-play goal at 19:32 as the B’s brought their longest power play drought since Feb. 2018, to an end.
The goal also marked the 400th career point for Pastrnak, becoming the fourth-fastest Bruin in franchise history to reach 400 points with the club in 406 games.
Bobby Orr amassed 400 points as a Bruin in 333 games, while Barry Pederson did so in 335 games and Ray Bourque completed the feat in 391 games.
After one period of play at Nassau Coliseum, Boston led New York, 1-0, on the scoreboard and, 12-8, in shots on goal.
The Bruins also held the advantage in giveaways (5-1), hits (11-7) and faceoff win percentage (59-41), while both teams had five blocked shots and two takeaways each entering the first intermission.
The Islanders had yet to see any action on the power play while the B’s were 1/1 on the skater advantage.
Early in the middle frame, Coyle tripped Mathew Barzal and was assessed a minor infraction at 2:51 of the second period.
New York did not convert on the ensuing power play.
Almost midway through the period, Oliver Wahlstrom checked Jarred Tinordi behind Boston’s net and was charged with a boarding minor at 9:16.
The B’s did not score on the resulting power play.
Moments later, Wahlstrom caught Connor Clifton in a vulnerable position and was assessed another boarding infraction, though not before Marchand jumped on top of Wahlstrom in defense of his teammate without seeing that Clifton had, perhaps, lost an edge leading to his fall before Wahlstrom completed his check.
Regardless, Marchand earned two roughing minors and presented the Isles with a power play at 14:32 of the second period.
Craig Smith served Marchand’s minor while Boston was on the penalty kill.
Almost two minutes later, Nelson (10) buried a one-timer on a “tic-toc-goal” from Barzal to Jean-Gabriel Pageau to Nelson to tie the game, 1-1, at 16:18 of the second period.
Pageau (8) and Barzal (14) tabbed the assists on the goal.
Through 40 minutes of play, the Bruins and Islanders were tied, 1-1, on the scoreboard, despite Boston leading in shots on goal, 24-16, after two periods of play– including a, 12-8, advantage in the second period alone.
The Isles led in blocked shots (11-10) and takeaways (4-2), while the B’s held the advantage in giveaways (9-6) and faceoff win% (54-46).
Both teams had 15 hits aside and were 1/2 on the power play entering the second intermission.
There were no penalties and no goals scored in the third period as the two clubs swapped chances, resulting in a, 1-1, score after regulation– necessitating overtime.
The Bruins led in shots on goal, 28-25, after 60 minutes, despite being outshot, 9-4, by the Islanders in the third period alone.
Boston also held the advantage in blocked shots (17-16), giveaways (13-8), hits (28-26) and faceoff win% (55-45), while New York led in takeaways (6-3) after three periods.
As there were no more penalties called in the game, the two teams finished 1/2 on the power play.
Trotz trotted out Nelson, Nick Leddy and Anthony Beauvillier to start overtime, while Cassidy countered with Patrice Bergeron, Marchand and Charlie McAvoy.
Neither team could score after five-minutes of blistering fury at 3-on-3.
After the extra frame, the Bruins finished the night leading in shots on goal, 33-27, including a, 5-2, advantage in the overtime period alone.
Boston wrapped up Tuesday night’s action leading in blocked shots (17-16), giveaways (13-10), hits (29-27) and faceoff win% (54-47) as the two teams entered the shootout tied, 1-1, on the scoreboard.
Jordan Eberle used his quick hands to deke and shoot over Halak’s glove side, giving New York a, 1-0 advantage before Pastrnak responded with a shot over Varlamov’s glove that hit the back of the twine, tying the shootout, 1-1, after one round.
Barzal’s attempt was denied by Halak with a blocker save after the Islanders forward tried to replicate Eberle’s attempt up high– only on the other side.
Coyle countered with an attempt at beating Varlamov’s five-hole, but the Isles goaltender stopped the shot.
In the third round of the shootout, Beauvillier put the Islanders ahead after he pulled a deke that left Halak attempting a split while Beauvillier roofed the puck top-shelf on a backhand shot.
All Varlamov had to do was stop Marchand’s attempt and New York would win.
He did just that as Marchand went five-hole, but the Islanders goaltender stood tall and turned the shot aside.
New York took home the, 2-1, victory in both the shootout and final score as Boston fell to 0-3-1 against the Islanders this season.
The Isles improved to 1-1 in shootouts this season and 1-4 past regulation overall, while the B’s fell to 2-2 in shootouts and 5-4 overall past 60 minutes.
Boston fell to 9-2-2 (4-2-1 on the road) when scoring the game’s first goal this season, while New York improved to 5-5-2 (5-0-0 at home) when allowing the game’s first goal in 2020-21.
The Bruins also fell to 7-0-1 (3-0-1 on the road) when leading after the first period and 3-4-3 (3-3-2 on the road) when tied after two periods this season, while the Islanders improved to 3-3-2 (3-0-0 at home) when trailing after one and 8-2-2 (6-0-1 at home) when tied after two periods in 2020-21.
Boston returns home to finish this week off with a two-game homestand against New York Rangers on Thursday and Saturday.
The B’s begin a four-game road trip next week with a pair of games in Pittsburgh and Buffalo.
Down the Frozen River 
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