UNIONDALE, N.Y. — Were there a few faults for Bruce Cassidy to sort through following the Bruins’ 5-0 win over the Islanders on Tuesday? Sure, as there are in every game. There was some “rust” for David Pastrnak in what was his first taste of game action in five weeks. A couple of third-period lapses in the neutral zone. And … well, that was about it for Boston’s bench boss when it came to his club’s shortcomings at Nassau Coliseum.
“Yeah, probably,” Cassidy said when asked if this was the team’s most dominant win in quite some time. “In terms of possession and the worry meter for the coach. … We never really got away from it. I think in the third, there were a couple of plays where we were a little soft through the neutral zone, they knocked down. But that was for a shift or two and our guys, right away, sort of said, ‘Hey, let’s get back to crisp, hard plays.’ It was good.
"I don’t know, you’re always concerned, do they just not have it tonight? Or was it just us with great legs and great determination and decision-making. It’s probably a little bit of both. But I can only judge us, and I loved the way we played.”
Things weren’t so peachy just a week ago, as the Bruins was forced to lick their wounds going into last weekend after an 0-3-0 showing during their previous road trip — with the third-ranked D corps in the entire NHL (2.49 GA/G) tagged for 15 goals.
Since then?
Just 17 5v5 scoring chances generated by the Blue Jackets — the team that scored seven goals against Boston days earlier — in what was a 2-1 overtime victory for the Bruins at TD Garden on Saturday.
And on Tuesday against an Islanders club jockeying for first place in the Metropolitan Division? Just two shots on goal in the first 20 minutes of regulation — and 14 total 5v5 scoring chances generated in the 5-0 contest.
By the end of the night, Boston had managed to pepper Robin Lehner in net with 39 shots on goal — all while limiting the Islanders to a season-low 13 shots. Of those shots that managed to find their way toward Tuukka Rask, eight were fired from low-danger areas along the blue line, with just four of New York’s 14 scoring chances tabbed as “high-danger” looks in the offensive zone.
So how then, did a Bruins team missing three regular defensemen in Torey Krug, Matt Grzelcyk and Kevan Miller still manage to put together it's best defensive outing of the year against a playoff-bound Islanders group?
Dominant puck possession
The opposition can’t generate many quality looks on net if they don’t have the puck — and New York was pretty much chasing the biscuit for most of Tuesday night. Forwards on all four of Boston’s lines managed to light the lamp in the victory, but even skaters with just a lone helper or zero points on the stat sheet more than made their presence felt when it came to establishing time in New York’s zone.
The Islanders didn’t have much of an answer when matched up against either the Bergeron or Krejci line, as Boston held a commanding edge in both shot attempts (32-10) and shots on goal (17-5) during 5v5 play in which either trio was out on a shift — which equates to a whopping 26:01 of ice time.
But it wasn't just the big guns like Patrice Bergeron or David Pastrnak that dictated the game while cycling through the offensive zone. Boston’s top-two leaders in shots on goal on Tuesday? Charlie Coyle (7 SOG) and Sean Kuraly (6 SOG, 2 goals) — a pair of larger, speedy forwards that are awfully hard to knock off the puck.
“I think, speaking for myself, once (that first goal) goes in and then another goes in — I’m like, ‘S---, I’m going to shoot everything I can. I think the team kind of had that mentality and you could see that there wasn’t a lot of selfishness in our game tonight. Everyone was getting the puck behind them. I don’t know how many neutral-zone turnovers we had, but it wasn’t a lot. We were behind them and I think that’s what broke them at the end of the day.”
Kuraly’s line sets tone on forecheck
While the usual trio of Kuraly, Chris Wagner and Noel Acciari were split up on Tuesday, a revamped third line with Kuraly at the pivot and both Wagner and Danton Heinen on the wing took on the role as Cassidy’s matchup nightmare for an opposing team’s top line.
Kuraly might very well be the fastest skater on the Bruins’ roster, but the forward’s two goals on Tuesday were still largely generated due to a relentless forecheck — with Kuraly opening the scoring at 1:12 into the first period after a sequence in which both him and Wagner won puck battles on opposite ends of the boards.
On Kuraly's second tally at 16:17 in the middle stanza, Wagner once again kept the play alive by fighting off Devon Toews in the corner — jumpstarting a stretch that ended with Heinen setting up Kuraly from behind the Islanders’ net.
Danton Heinen sets up Sean Kuraly for his second goal of the night.
3-0 Bruins. pic.twitter.com/vg1SSHRHXu
— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) March 20, 2019
