On Long Island, Tuukka Rask made 25 saves and the Boston Bruins blanked the beleaguered New York Islanders, 4-0, on Saturday.
Charlie McAvoy had a goal and three points in the win.
David Pastrnak potted his 47th in Bruins win – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
“He’s a Long Island boy, so coming home he was probably a little more excited to play, and good for him,” Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy said.
The loss kept the Isles from moving into a tie for third Metrpolitan Division; they hold the4 first wild card in the Eastern Conference.
“When we had our looks, we didn’t have second looks,” New York’s Anders Lee said. “We did a great job of creating some initial shots; it’s that second opportunity that we just didn’t find tonight on some of the power plays, and then a couple of others we had nothing going. The ones we did have going, we just didn’t have that secondary opportunity to put it in.”
David Pastrnak struck for his 47th goal of the season to give Rask all the offense he would need with the 1-0 lead.
Matt Grzelcyk and Brad Marchand also scored for the Bruins.
“We didn’t have all our men on board, some guys played a little less than they needed to, and you can’t do that against these teams,” Isles head coach Barry Trotz said. “They don’t beat themselves. … We don’t play through people, and that’s not how you win this time of year and that’s not how you win championships. … But we’re not that far off.”
[WATCH: All Bruins vs. Islanders highlights]
Semyon Varlamov made 25 saves in the loss.
“They don’t give up much,” Lee said. “They’re smart with the puck, so most of the time we have to go 200 feet. There’s not a lot of turnovers in their game. We can take a page out of their book and play a little bit more like that, that’s for sure.”
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