With their backs against the wall and season on the line, the Bruins looked to lean on their experience and veteran leadership to help stave off elimination against the Islanders in a hostile Nassau Coliseum.
Unfortunately, the Bruins chose the worst time to play likely their worst game of the playoffs. From goalie on out, the Bruins didn’t have the effort, determination or execution to match the Islanders and essentially no-showed their first elimination game of the postseason.
Yes, there were injuries that proved too much to overcome, but the Bruins didn’t bring their skating or checking game from start to finish. They generated virtually no offense, played poorly in front of Tuukka Rask, and didn’t get timely saves either.
Brad Marchand played well and scored two power-play goals but clearly wasn’t enough on this night.
Many questions loom for the Bruins going forward. Will David Krejci, Taylor Hall and Rask be back, to name a few? Is their championship window officially closed?
Here are three key takeaways from the game as the Bruins’ season ends with a 6-2 loss.
1. Good shape after 1st period
After dominating the Islanders in the first period of Game 5 and leaving the period only tied 1-1, the Bruins flipped the script on the Islanders in Game 6. The Islanders dictated much of the play in the first period and even got the lead for the first time since Game 1 — but this time it was the Bruins who stuck around and eventually evened the score with a late power-play goal of their own that would temporarily silence the crowd.
The Bruins were the recipients of the game’s first two power plays and capitalized when Brad Marchand buried a cross-zone slap-pass from David Pastrnak tying the game 1-1 heading into the first intermission. It’s as good as the Bruins could have drawn it up — leave the first period tied or ahead and weather the storm and that’s exactly what they accomplished.
2. Bruins fall apart in second
Entering the second period all the Bruins had to do was play responsible and give themselves a chance to win a game on the road. In what was perhaps the ugliest period of Bruins hockey in recent memory, the Bruins completely fell apart and got ran out of the arena.
It all began with the period from hell for Matt Grzelcyk as he got pick-pocketed by Brock Nelson, who scored on an abbreviated breakaway to give the Isles a 2-1 lead. Brock Nelson then added his second goal of the game when Rask played a puck from behind the net that Mike Reilly couldn’t handle. It ended up on Nelson’s stick in front of the goal and he beat Rask under his pad to make it a two goal lead.
The night got even worse for Grzelcyk and Rask when Grzelcyk gave a puck away to Kyle Palmieri right in front of Rask and Palmieri pounced on it for a fluky, self-inflicted goal to essentially ice the game in the second period.
Overall, the Bruins generated nothing at even-strength and had zero defensive structure whatsoever. One can look at injuries on the back-end to Brandon Carlo and Kevan Miller, but only Curtis Lazar was hurt up front and the offense generated little to no real scoring chances.
Still, no amount of injuries excuses the lack of effort the Bruins showed, especially in the third period. Yes, Marchand scored his second power-play goal of the game to bring the Bruins within two and was one of the only skaters who gave it his all — but the majority of the team for the majority of the period skated in quicksand with their season on the line. The entire game the Bruins looked defeated and have gotten into a habit of not being able to punch back in playoff series in recent seasons.
Overall, this was one of the least inspiring games the Bruins have ever played when faced with elimination.
3. Islanders deserved to win the series
After losing Game 3 in overtime, the Islanders outworked the Bruins in just about every area besides the shot clock. They out-scored, out-hit and outworked the Bruins for the majority of the final three games of the series and especially the final two games on Long Island.
The Bruins definitely didn’t have a ton of puck luck or power-play opportunities in the series and deserved better at times, but credit to the Islanders because they earned their bounces with effort and determination and came from behind in three of their four wins during the series.
Even if the Bruins had found a way in this series, it feels like it would have been a rather short series in favor of the deeper, more talented and well-rested Lightning. Credit goes to the Islanders for winning the battle of attrition as well. It’s no coincidence that the bigger, better forechecking and better structured team implemented their will more and stayed healthier than the Bruins throughout the series. Based on their better health and how they’re playing, the Islanders are a more deserving team to square off against Tampa Bay in the final four and will give them a tougher series than this current Bruins team would have.
When healthy the Bruins likely had more skill than the Islanders, but will beats skill when the skill doesn’t have enough will.