The New York Islanders took a three-game losing streak into TD Garden to face the Boston Bruins. Despite the Bruins managing a strong comeback, the Islanders emerged victorious and in thrilling fashion.
First Period
It took under four minutes, but the Bruins drew first blood. Cole Koepke took a cross-ice pass and the puck bounced off Ilya Sorokin and into the net. Islanders head coach Patrick Roy challenged for goaltender interference, but the league deemed there was none. The Bruins were awarded a power play, but it was the Islanders who went to work. Off an odd-man rush, Jean-Gabriel Pageau fed a cross-ice pass to Bo Horvat to tie the game at one. It was the fifth goal they’ve allowed this year while having the man advantage.
The Islanders added to their lead shortly after defenseman Ryan Pulock shot the puck into the net. They maintained this lead the rest of the way and carried it into the second period.
The Islanders held the edge in shot attempts (24-21) and managed to outshoot the Bruins. They also generated quality chances and held a significant edge in the expected goals share, 1.49-0.78.
Second Period
The Islanders picked up where they left off. After seeing Sorokin make a quality save on Pavel Zacha, they countered. Off another odd-man rush, Anders Lee buried his first goal of the game to extend the lead to 3-1.
Related: Projected Lineups for the Islanders vs Bruins – 1/5/25
Moments later, the Bruins capitalized on a poor line change by the Islanders. After Andrew Peeke corralled the puck into the zone, he found Justin Brazeau who fired a one-time shot past Sorokin to cut the deficit to one. After that goal, the pace of the period was elevated. Both teams traded quality chances and both goalies answered the bell. It had good energy and physicality, but the goal-scoring did not change.
The Islanders were a much stronger team in the second period, out-attempting the Bruins 36-13. Also, they outshot the Bruins 16-9 and owned the high-danger areas of the ice with five attempts to the Bruins’ one. Their quality matched their output in the expected goals share 1.19-0.44.
Third Period
This period was fireworks from the start. Lee capitalized on a rebound 3:41 into the period, which gave him his second of the game. Less than a minute later, the Bruins responded. After the Islanders turned over the puck, Morgan Geekie fed a pass to David Pastrnak who made no mistake on the one-timed blast. With a good back-and-forth pace, Pastrnak scored his second of the game off a great cross-ice feed by Zacha, and the game was tied at four. Both teams played a great period and earned at least one point in this game.
The Islanders held the edge in shot attempts, but it was the Bruins who held the edge in shots on goal. Both teams managed to clamp down and hold things down defensively, creating a low-event offensive period in terms of expected goals. Both teams scored well above that rate and made for an exciting period.
Overtime
Despite the Bruins dominating the overtime period, the Islanders emerged victorious. After Sorokin made a key pad save, Horvat skated in on a breakaway and the puck squeaked by Korpisalo. The Islanders won 5-4.
