If one thing has become clear in this second-round series between the Bruins and Islanders, it is that there is not a lot of margin for error.
While the Bruins were dominant in a 5-2 Game 1 win, the three games since then have been about as close as you can get, with one or two plays or mistakes making all the difference.
In Game 2, the Islanders took advantage of a couple Bruins breakdowns around their own net and an ill-advised Jeremy Lauzon pass in overtime to tie the series. In Game 3, the Islanders couldn’t take advantage of a late power play, and then Semyon Varlamov let in a bad-angle shot from Brad Marchand in overtime, giving the Bruins a 2-1 win.
The final score of Saturday’s Game 4 says 4-1 Islanders, but for all intents and purposes it was a one-goal game, with New York taking the lead with 6:57 left in the third and then tacking on two empty-netters.
Things could have been very different had the Bruins taken advantage of a couple golden opportunities earlier in the game.
The first came late in the first period when a good shift for the Bruins’ top line had the Islanders running around and resulted in David Pastrnak staring down a wide-open net off a feed from Patrice Bergeron. It was a chance nearly any NHL player buries, never mind one of the best goal-scorers in the world. But Pastrnak didn’t bury it. He fired the puck off the post, an inch or two wide of the 72 open inches he had to hit.
While there was still a lot of game left, it was hard not to think that miss was going to cost the Bruins. The Islanders just don’t give up many high-quality chances, and Pastrnak had let one slip away.
The Bruins did still score the game’s first goal, though, capitalizing on the power play with a David Krejci goal early in the second. But then they let another great opportunity go to waste.
Islanders coach Barry Trotz challenged Krejci’s goal for goalie interference but lost, putting the Bruins right back on another power play. It was a rare mistake from Trotz, as the challenge never seemed to have much of a chance, and a great chance for the Bruins to make New York pay and double their lead.
Instead, neither Bruins power-play unit was able to do anything at all, registering a grand total of zero shots on goal on the ensuing man advantage. Not only did they not score, but they let momentum swing to the Islanders. Forty seconds after the power play expired, Mathew Barzal set up Kyle Palmieri for a game-tying goal.
After the game, Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy expressed particular disappointment with the Bruins’ second power-play unit of Matt Grzelcyk, Taylor Hall, Craig Smith, Charlie Coyle and Nick Ritchie.
“I think the second unit, I was disappointed,” Cassidy said. “They don’t get a lot of time, obviously, behind the first unit, but it was an opportunity for them to step up. No one wanted to shoot the puck. They still practice a lot, and we have certain people we want to run it through, but every one of them refused to shoot the puck.
“We had it in the slot, we turned down a shot, on the elbow, up top. It just kills your momentum. And now you go into your own end, you’ve got guys that aren’t really playing together. So that could’ve helped us a lot, even just to keep the momentum. Like I said, I was disappointed in that.”
While there’s no guarantee the Bruins would have won if Pastrnak had buried that shot or that bonus power play had gone better, there’s also no doubt those missed opportunities proved costly.
Great chances have been hard to come by for both teams these last few games, and that’s probably going to be the case for the rest of the series. The Bruins will need to make sure they don’t waste them on the few occasions they get them in Game 5 Monday night.
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