UNIONDALE, N.Y. — Back and forth they skated through the third period, each team trying to force a mistake and turn it into the deciding play. Neither yielded much space in their own zone, though there was considerably more in the three-on-three overtime.
In many ways, the Islanders and Bruins are mirror images, two teams with solid defensive structures that can create offensively if given room.
Finally, it came to the shootout and the Islanders beat the Bruins, 2-1, on Tuesday night at Nassau Coliseum for the fourth straight time this season. In coach Barry Trotz’s milestone 1,700th game, the East Division-leading Islanders (16-6-4) extended their winning streak to six games and their points streak to 8-0-1.
It marked the Islanders’ first non-regulation win of the season in five tries.
Jordan Eberle and the Bruins’ David Pastrnak both scored in the first round of the shootout before Mathew Barzal and Charlie Coyle were denied in the second.
Anthony Beauvillier, lifting a backhander, connected in the third round and Semyon Varlamov (32 saves) denied Brad Marchand to seal the Islanders’ victory.
The Islanders’ three previous wins over the Bruins — all at the Coliseum — represented half of their first six regulation losses. Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s goal at 15:51 of the third period gave the Islanders a 1-0 win on Jan. 18. Barzal’s third-period power-play goal and Pageau’s subsequent shorthander were the difference in a 4-2 win on Feb. 13. Ex-Islander Jaroslav Halak, who made 26 saves on Tuesday, allowed five third-period goals in the Islanders’ 7-2 win on Feb. 25 in his first start against his former team since joining the Bruins via free agency in 2018.
"They’re a great team," defenseman Andy Greene said before the game. "They’re similar to us in the way that they play a pretty straight forward game, more of a heavy game. We’ve been fortunate to get a few bounces here and there."
Certainly, every game could have gone either way as the Islanders and Bruins entered the third period tied for the fourth straight time.
Pageau, working down low, set up Brock Nelson’s power-play goal off a one-timer in the slot at 16:18 of the second period. Marchand had received a double minor for roughing against rookie Oliver Wahlstrom at 14:32 as he retaliated for Wahlstrom boarding defenseman Connor Clifton along the left wall. It was Wahlstrom’s second offensive-zone boarding minor of the period, though, to be fair, his hit from behind on Jarred Tinordi at 9:16 did not send that defenseman crashing into the backboards.
The Bruins did score the first goal against the Islanders for the third time this season on Pastrnak’s power-play goal through traffic from the right with 27.7 seconds left in the first period following captain Anders Lee’s offensive-zone trip of Coyle.
The Islanders got off to a strong start — Matt Martin nearly tipped one past Halak just 19 seconds into the game and Eberle hit the post on a wide-open look from the right off Lee’s two-on-one feed at 7:46 of the first period — but the Bruins gradually started hemming them in the defensive zone. Like Eberle, Pastrnak just missed on a wide-open look, shooting wide to the short side from the left circle at 13:01 of the first period.
