The New York Islanders are sure to play like a Lou Lamoriello team. So did the Boston Bruins for most of Thursday.
After all the hits, scoring chances, goals, and general chaos in the first two games of the East Division Finals in Boston, the Bruins and Islanders each seemed to be channeling the old New Jersey Devils in Game 3, who won three under New York’s general manager Lamoriello Stanley Cups by eliminating space and suffocating opponents.
And then the Bruins took over.
Third in the NHL this season in shots per game, the Bruins managed just six shots on goal on Thursday before dominating the second half of the game and taking the 2-1 lead with a 2-1 win.
Brilliant at keeping his team in the game, the Islanders goalkeeper Semyon Varlamov seemed to lose his angle at the near post when Brad Marchand struck over his shoulder from an acute angle after 3:36 overtime.
Boston beat New York 33:11 in the second half of regular time, but it was the Islanders who forced extra time when Mathew Barzal stuck a puck between the post and Bruin goalkeeper Tuukka Rask’s skate late in the third period.
“Did we expect it to go in from there?” That’s what Boston’s trainer Bruce Cassidy said. “Only Brad can answer that, but obviously not, especially with all the parades (Varlamov) that were made tight. Maybe there was a small screen, maybe it was a little late. I don’t care to be honest. It went online, we won the game. Sometimes you don’t ask how.
“I don’t think we really stole it. I thought we played a really, really solid street game. “
Marchand, who skated the puck low down on the left wing to allow his teammates to change, said he probably didn’t expect his shot to hit Varlamov.
But “every shot, especially in overtime, has a chance to get in.”
A WIN AND A LOST
The experienced defender Kevan Miller was already absent due to an injury, the Bruins lost the top 4 blueliner Brandon Carlo six minutes after the start of the third period when he hit his head against the glass in a hard but legal hit from the islander Cal Clutterbuck.
Obviously dazed, Carlo knelt on the ice and tried to regain his balance before setting off with assistance. It’s hard to imagine him playing Game 4 on Saturday. If he fails, Charlie McAvoy will have even more responsibility, whose ice age at 29:11 on Thursday was almost seven minutes more than any teammate and almost five minutes more than any islander.
A head injury for Carlo is particularly worrying as the 24-year-old missed 11 games in March after suffering a concussion from a high hit from Washington Capitals predator Tom Wilson, who was suspended for seven games for being shot in the head.
DESPITE MOVE
Islanders manager Barry Despite took a significant step to counter the superstar line of Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak who combined for five of the Bruins’ eight goals in the first two games of the series.
Despite shifting his third line, centered by Jean-Gabriel Pageau, against the Bergeron unit after the Islanders used Brock Nelson’s line in two games in a power-on-power match. For the most part, the tactical shift worked as Bergeron, Marchand, and Pastrnak were limited to seven even shots in Game 3. Pageau, Travis Zajac and Kyle Palmieri were on the ice for the Islanders when Marchand scored in OT, but there was nothing the strikers could do to save their goalkeeper from themselves in this game.
IS THAT MAT BARZAL?
In the Islanders’ first eight playoff games goalless and with just four assists for the most important ice hockey of the season, Barzal’s performance on Thursday could mean a breakthrough for the fighting offensive star.
Despite flipping the puck on the Boston blue line in front of the Bruins’ first goal, Barzal played with more assertiveness and directness, attempting six shots and finally making his first playoffs at 14:34 of the third period when he got three chances to hit a puck to jam, which after some misunderstandings between Rask and Boston defense attorney Connor Clifton bounced off the end boards at him.
The Islanders have an excellent, deep team. But Barzal is the only New York player whose skills could allow him to make a difference on the Pastrnak, Bergeron or Marchand scale.
RENTED HALL
Taylor Hall was again an important side player for the Bruins, stealing the puck from Barzal in the first third, stealing the puck in the first third, putting him back on the ice and finally passing Craig Smith’s first goal in Boston.
A serial disappointment at playoff time, Hall was traded by the Buffalo Sabers at the discounted price of a second-round draft pick to the Bruins. The Islanders were also interested in renting Hall, but instead added New Jersey character strikers Zajac and Palmieri for an asset package that included a selection for the first round.
“He’s a special kid, a special player,” said Smith from Hall on Thursday. “He’s got an extraordinary speed and mind for the game. He was one of the best players out there. “
OFFER BOOK
Cassidy: “I thought it was a great goalkeeping game from her and our husband. And that’s why there is 1: 1 in extra time. That’s what you expect in the playoffs. I was asked that the other day; What surprised me a little were the many goals from two very good defensive teams. That’s more of what I imagined. “
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