New York Islanders vs Boston Bruins Series Recap

A Surprise in the Crease

Before the New York Islanders Vs Boston Bruins series, we predicted that Tuukka Rask and Ilya Sorokin would be the starting goalies for their respective teams. We correctly predicted that Tuukka Rask would be the starting goalie but somewhat wrong about Sorokin. Instead of Ilya Sorokin being the starting goalie for the majority of the series he only played in game one. Semyon Varlamov played the rest of the series for the Islanders. 

The Islanders" goaltending was not an issue in this series in fact it was the strongest aspect of their roster this series. The combination of Ilya Sorokin and Semyon Varlamov was enough to shut down the high-power Bruins offense for most of the series. 

In the first game of the series, Ilya Sorokin got the start in net. Unfortunately, the game did go so well for the Islanders. The Bruins fired 39 shots at the Russian netminder, but he could only stop 35 of the shots. David Pastrnak and Charlie McAvoy combined to score the Bruins three goals on Sorokin. David Pastrnak went on to score his third goal of the game on an empty net. Taylor Hall provided another empty goal to give the Bruins a 5-2 victory.4 

Barry Trotz decided to go with Semyon Varlamov in the second game of the New York Islanders vs Boston Bruins Series. As Varlamov stopped 39 of the 42 shots, the move paid off the Bruins fired his way to help propel his team to a 4-3 overtime victory. In-game three Varlamov continued his strong play as he stopped 31 of 33 shots but unfortunately, the Islanders lost 2-1 in overtime as Brad Marchand buried a ridiculous shot over the shoulder of Varlamov. 

The Islanders bounced back in game four as New York tied the series at two games apiece thanks to their 4-1 victory. Varlamov made 28 saves on the 29 shots the Bruins got on the net. The series shifted back to Boston for game five but the Islanders were unfazed by the change in location. They showed up and won the game 5-4, despite allowing four goals Varlamov actually had a great game and made some clutch saves including this series of saves.

In the final game of the New York Islanders vs Boston Bruins series Varlamov guided the Islanders to a 6-2 victory. He stopped 23 of the 25 shots that came his way.

Utter Disappointments During the New York Islanders vs Boston Bruins Series

The New York Islanders vs Boston Bruins had some players who did not perform up to their expectations before the series. Goaltender Tuukka Rask and defenseman are going to be front and center for disappointments during the New York Islanders vs Boston Bruins series. Tuukka Rask left the game after the second period due to "maintenance" in the fifth game of the series. People suspected it was in fact due to his poor play as he allowed four goals on just 16 shots. 

His poor play continued into the final game of the series as he made a costly turnover that bounced him off his defenseman and right onto Brock Nelson’s stick. Nelson went on to deke out Rask to bury his second goal of the game. 

Matt Grzelcyk is another disappointment for the Bruins. Multiple times during game six he can be blamed for allowing a goal. The first goal he can be blamed for was the second goal of the game and the first goal for Brock Nelson. Nelson guided the puck with one hand on his stick past Grzelcyk and then proceeded to fire a shot past Tuukka Rask for the 2-1 lead.

The second goal that can be directly blamed on Grzelcyk came late in the second period when he collects the puck in front of his own net and gave the puck away which led to yet another goal that would eventually prove costly for the Bruins.

What Is Next For the Islanders?

Since the Islanders defeated the Bruins they will advance to the third round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. In the third round, they will match up against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Lightning defeated the Carolina Hurricanes in the second round and the Florida Panthers in the first round. Since the two teams were in different divisions in the regular season they have yet to play against each other. Hopefully, they can provide an entertaining series and find one of the Stanley Cup final competitors.  

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