David Pastrnak had a hat trick and Charlie McAvoy had the game winning goal in the third period Saturday night, as the Boston Bruins took Game 1 of their second round playoff series with a 5-2 win over the New York Islanders in front of a full capacity crowd at TD Garden in Boston.
New York, who ousted Pittsburgh in six games in the first round, opened the scoring in the first period on the powerplay. Anthony Beauvillier tipped home a wrist shot from the point by Noah Dobson at 11:48 to make it 1-0 Islanders. Boston tied it though just before the end of the first 20 minutes, also on the extra man. Pastrnak scooped up a rebound in the left faceoff circle of a shot from the right point by David Krejci, waited to get New York goalie Ilya Sorokin out of position and slammed it in glove side at 19:36.
The Bruins controlled the shots over the first 30 or so minutes of action, 22-8 over that time. They were rewarded with their first lead of the night in that second period. Pressuring in the Islanders zone, Patrice Bergeron got a shot in on net from the low slot that was kicked out by Sorokin but right to Pastrnak who made no mistake in finding the net for his second of the night at 11:08. The visitors tied it back up just 1:26 later when Jordan Eberle found Adam Pelech at the point, and Pelech one-timed it past Tuuka Rask at 12:34 and it was 2-2.
Boston took over and totally owned the third period to take the win, before a rowdy and boisterous 17,400 fans. McAvoy got the eventual game winner when he one-timed a shot from the point off a feed from Krejci past a screened Sorokin at 6:20. Pastrnak got his hat trick when he made a steal at center ice, cut across the blue line and into the low slot in between the circles where he let go a quick shot stick side to make it 4-2 at 15:50. Taylor Hall added another for good measure on the powerplay into an empty net at 18:35.
Rask made 20 saves in the win. Pastrnak with the three goals and Krejci with three assists led the way offensively. Bergeron also added two assists. Eberle with two assists led New York, and Sorokin finished with 35 stops. The Bruins went a perfect 2-2 on the powerplay, while the Islanders were 1-3. The teams play Game 2 of the best of seven in Boston on Monday night. The full capacity at the Garden for the game was the first time for any sport in the building since March of last year, as Massachusetts dropped all COVID-19 restrictions on Saturday.
