BOSTON — Too much David Pastrnak and too few of their own chances. It was that simple for the Islanders in Game 1 against the Bruins and a potential problem for the rest of this second-round series.
The Bruins won, 5-2, on Saturday night before a crazed crowd of 17,400 at TD Garden. The teams play a similarly defensively-structured game and rely on creating offense off a heavy forecheck and straight-line skating.
But the Bruins also have Pastrnak, who notched a hat trick, along with his top-line mates Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand. They combined for six points and Tuukka Rask needed to make just 20 saves. Ilya Sorokin stopped 35 shots for the Islanders.
Game 2 is Monday night before the series shifts to Nassau Coliseum.
Charlie McAvoy gave the Bruins a 3-2 lead at 6:20 of the third period as his blue-line shot went through a screen set by Nick Ritchie and Pastrnak completed his hat trick from the high slot at 15:50.
Ritchie had exited the penalty box 18 seconds prior to McAvoy’s goal after serving the Bruins’ too-many-men penalty. The Islanders were held to two shots on that man advantage as the Bruins gained momentum from their strong penalty kill.
The Islanders went 5-2-1 against the Bruins in the regular season, winning all four at the Coliseum but dropping all three games after the Bruins acquired Taylor Hall — who scored a power-play empty-netter at 18:35 of the third period — from the Sabres
Coach Barry Trotz said the key to the series was fairly simple, if potentially hard to achieve.
"The team that can get to their game and stick to their game the longest and the quickest is going to have success," Trotz said. "The funny thing is we both play very similar styles systematically and DNA wise, we have a lot of the same elements. It should be interesting because we won’t know if we’re getting to our game because we’re playing against a lot of our game. They’ll probably say the same thing."
It’s just the third time the teams have met in the playoffs and the first time since 1983.
"We played them eight times this year so we have a good grasp of how each other plays and what we need to do to be successful against each other," Casey Cizikas said. "The playoffs are a different animal and you’re playing each other consecutively and the stakes are bigger. At the end of the day, we know how we have to play to beat these guys."
Five of the eight regular-season games between the two were tied entering the third period.
So was Game 1.
Pastrnak’s second goal gave the Bruins a 2-1 lead at 11:08 of the second period. For all of Sorokin’s playoff brilliance, he does have a penchant for giving up long rebounds and that’s how Pastrnak scored twice, this time depositing the puck after Patrice Bergeron’s initial shot.
But defenseman Adam Pelech quickly tied the game at 2 at 12:34 with a rising slap shot through traffic from the blue line. It was one of just four Islanders’ shots on goal in the second period.
The Bruins had the longer rest between series after eliminating the Capitals in Game 5 this past Sunday, but showed no rust in their game. The Islanders ousted the Penguins with a 5-3 victory at the Coliseum on Wednesday.
"I think every team handles situations differently and the rest can hurt and it can also help you with guys banged up," Matt Martin said. "They’re a good hockey team."
The teams traded first-period power-play goals, with the Bruins tying the game at 1 with 23.3 seconds remaining on Pastrnak’s rebound shot from the left circle after defenseman Andy Greene was whistled for high sticking Charlie Coyle with 32.3 seconds left.
Anthony Beauvillier, with a goal in his third straight game and four goals and three assists in his last give games, had given the Islanders a 1-0 lead at 11:48 as he deflected defenseman Noah Dobson’s shot from the blue line.
The Islanders were outshot, 18-8, in the first period and outchanced, 49-20, through two periods.
