Five Takeaways From Game 1 Between the Bruins and Islanders
The Boston Bruins soundly defeated the New York Islanders in Game 1 of the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Saturday night. Here are five key takeaways I had after the 5-2 victory:
Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak are all really good at hockey
Pastrnak scored a hat trick, Bergeron tallied two assists and Marchand added another as the “Perfection Line” (man I hate typing that) was, well, perfect. According to Natural Stat Trick, Boston’s top trio played a total of 12:43 together on Saturday night at five on five. They recorded a Corsi For Percentage of 79.31 and outshot and out-chanced the Islanders 17-3 and 16-4, respectively. If the Islanders are to have any chance in this series they’re going to have to (try to) slow down this group.
Tuukka Rask was solid in net but never under siege
Rask faced 22 shots on net in Game 1 stopping 20 of them. The first goal from the Islanders came on the power play when Anthony Beauvillier deflected a shot from the point in the slot that squeaked past Rask – a difficult save to make. The second goal, however, is one that Rask should’ve had. Adam Pelech blasted a shot from the blue line that sailed straight into the back of the net.
Other than that, Rask shut the door as the Islanders had only 13 scoring chances, four high danger scoring chances and an expected goals for of 1.26.
Mathew Barzal was nowhere to be seen
I watched all of Game 1 on Saturday night and I straight up don’t remember seeing Barzal on the ice one single time. He tallied only one shot, two penalty minutes and went one for six from the faceoff dot in 16:24 of game action. Bruins fans always want to talk about how their team passed on Barzal in the draft but the Islanders’ top centerman was as quiet as Jake DeBrusk was during the regular seaso— I mean as quiet as Jakub Zbor— I mean as quiet as Zach Sen— I mean as quiet as could be!
Ilya Sorokin struggled to handle pucks
Sorokin won all four games for the Islanders in their six-game series win over the Pittsburgh Penguins in round one sporting a whopping .943 save percentage in the process. Game 1 of the second round was a different story as Sorokin surrendered four goals on 39 shots. In addition to routinely fumbling pucks in front of the net, his poor rebound control led straight to Pastrnak’s second goal of the evening:
I would expect the Islanders to make a change in net if this continues. Their other goaltender – Semyon Varlamov – went 5-1 against the Bruins in the regular season with a .943 SV% and 1.93 goals-against average.
The Garden was absolutely rocking
Even from watching on TV, it was evident that the atmosphere at TD Garden was electric. I am not at all ashamed to admit that I started tearing up seeing a packed house sing along to the National Anthem for the first time in over a year. There is no doubt that the crowd had a direct impact on the game.
In his postgame interview, Pastrnak said, "In warmups, it felt like 22 players playing their first NHL game, looking around at the fans...it warms your heart. It reminds you why you play this sport.”
Let’s hope that the fans continue to have this effect on their hometown players and that we get to see plenty more “Shout” moments throughout the course of the Bruins’ playoff run.
