Mathew Barzal helped set up the tying goal in the second period, and then scored the game winner in the third period Saturday night as the New York Islanders evened their best of seven second round playoff series with the Boston Bruins at 2-2 with a 4-1 win at Nasseau Coliseum in Uniondale, NY.
A pretty even first period saw no goals scored but both teams each had a great chance in the later stages. Boston had the only powerplay of the first 20 minutes, but it was New York that had the first scoring chance. The Bruins turned the puck over in their own zone, and Josh Bailey found an open Anthony Beauvillier cutting in on goalie Tuuka Rask. Beauvillier went forehand to backhand but was turned away by the left pad of Rask. Boston then had a chance when David Pastrnak kept a loose puck alive at the New York blue line and shuffled it over to Brad Marchand. Marchand then got it to to wide open Patrice Bergeron in the high slot, who faked a shot and made a pass to Pastrnak in the left faceoff circle who had an open net past an out of position Semyon Valarmov but fired it off the right post as the game remained scoreless.
The Bruins drew first blood when David Krejci scooped up a rebound after a shot on Valarmov caused a scramble in front. The powerplay marker at 3:57 made it 1-0. It didn’t take the hosts long at all though to even it back up. On a delayed penalty, Barzal skated behind the Boston net and found Kyle Palmieri in the low slot. Palmieri made no mistake firing it past Rask at 6:38. The Islanders nearly took the lead when Brock Nelson made a curl and drag move in the Boston zone, finding an open Bailey in the low slot but Rask came up with the big save just over midway through the stanza. New York would take 54 seconds of carry over powerplay time to the third period.
The Bruins killed off that remaining time, but couldn’t get anything past Valarmov in the final period. The game winner from Barzal came off a point shot by Scott Mayfield, that was blocked by Charlie Coyle but Barzal batted the blocked shot out of mid-air between the circles and past Rask at 13:03. Boston pulled Rask for the extra attacker twice late, and New York would add on empty netters from Casey Cizikas at 18:57 and Jean-Gabriel Pageau at 19:57 to end the scoring and send the series back to Beantown which is now down to a best of three.
Rask ended up with 30 saves in the loss. Barzal was the leading point getter in the game with his goal and one assist. Valarmov made 28 saves in the win. Boston went 1-3 on the powerplay, while New York was 0-2. Game 5 is scheduled for a 6:30 faceoff on Monday night at TD Garden in Boston.
