Bruins/Islanders: Game 6

With their backs against the wall, the Bruins hope to stave off elimination against the New York Islanders in game six of their highly contested playoff series and get the series back to the Garden for a potential game seven. Before that can happen, the Boston Bruins need to handle business in game six first. On the brink, the Bruins find themselves shorthanded, particularly on the blue line, with a trio of teammates missing in Brandon Carlo, Kevan Miller, and now Curtis Lazar. Showing faith in his starting goaltender, coach Cassidy confirms Tuukka Rask will get the net despite coming out of game 5 in favor of Jeremy Swayman, in what Cassidy described as “maintenance”. Come puckdrop, both teams exhibit exuberance and excellent energy on par with the physical precedent in which had been established early on in the series. The first nail in the coffin of the Bruins season is hammered in at 8:52 when an unfortunate Travis Zajack wristshot on the rebound finds the back of the Bruins net, 1–0 Islanders. The first penalty of the game is called at the 5:47 mark of the first period putting the Bruins on their first powerplay, which is extended into a second powerplay. Bruins find the equalizer on a sweet dish by David Pastrnak to the right side, finding Brad Marchand who puts it over Varlamov for the game-tying goal 1–1 at the 17:36 mark of the first. The second period in the previous few games proved to be critical unraveling points for the Bruins, a motif the Bruins aimed to avoid at such a critical juncture. Though seems to remain futile at 5:20 of the second, when a Matt Grezclyk turnover finds the stick of Brock Nelson and the back of Tuukka Rask’s net for the 2–1 Islanders lead. The second period bloodletting continues when the Bruins defense promptly mishandles a pass from Rask along the boards when Brock Nelson scores his second on the night, but dinner begins to start to smell done at 16:07 of the second when a Kyle Palmeri goal trickles underneath past Rask for the daunting 4–1 Islanders lead. The Bruins are outshot 11–3 in the second going into the final period of their season. In an anticipated move of desperation to start the third, I expected to see young, upstart Jeremy Swayman inserted in net, I was shocked to see Rask resume his post at puckdrop. Bruins attempt to surmount their comeback while on the power play at 5:38, Brad Marchand straps his work boots on and powers his way in through the Islanders crease, scoring a gritty, blue-collar, backhand goal to cut the lead to 4–2. That would be as far as they would go though. the Islanders scored two empty-net goals while shutting down the neutral zone, controlling the pace of play, and limiting the Bruins to zero shots on goal until the clock expired on the Boston Bruins' 2021 season. Quite frankly, an embarrassing effort in an elimination scenario, that I was almost certain would produce different results. Bottom line: the Bruins looked overmatched at times during the series with too many passengers. Lacking true, quality depth at several key positions. The Bruins have several looming off-season questions on the horizon. They own the 20th overall pick in the 2021 NHL draft on July 24th, but this offseason will have the Seattle expansion draft to contend with as well three days beforehand. Enjoy the offseason and we’ll talk soon…