Shorthanded Bruins Drop Trip Opener on Long Island

BostonBruins.com - Nick Foligno was blunt in describing what the past 24 hours have been like for the Boston Bruins.
"It's been a nightmare, to be honest with you," he said.

But even as the Bruins faced some unprecedented challenges, they put forth a commendable effort during a 3-1 loss to the New York Islanders at UBS Arena on Thursday night. Mike Reilly scored the lone goal with just 53 seconds remaining in regulation, spoiling the shutout hopes of Islanders goalie Semyon Varlamov (40 saves).
"I'm always proud of this group. That's the Bruin way. There's no quit in this team even with everything we've faced in the past 24 hours," said Foligno, who donned an 'A' along with Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo.
"We found a way to come in here and just work. That's something we can control. I think we also looked at it as an opportunity for some guys that don't get the same kind of ice time. There's an opportunity in front of them and I thought some guys played real hard tonight and gave us everything they had.
"It's unfortunate we just didn't get the bounces tonight. We created a lot of good chances, just couldn't find a way to get them past Varlamov. Got to give him credit. More opportunities and more chances and more efforts like that are going to result in wins."
The Black & Gold's day began with Jeremy Swayman, Anton Blidh, Trent Frederic, and a team staffer entering COVID protocol, joining Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, and Craig Smith. The Bruins then traveled to Long Island after pushing back their flight to early Thursday morning and scrapping their pregame skate.
Shortly before warmups, Boston placed Oskar Steen and an additional staffer in the protocols. With Steen - who was called up from Providence to help fill the void left by the B's previous COVID issues - sidelined, Boston was forced to play with just 11 forwards to be compliant with the salary cap. The Black & Gold also had to assign defenseman John Moore to Providence earlier in the day to comply with the cap.
"I have no issue with the effort," said Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy. "I think our guys came to play tonight. I'd say after the first 10 minutes we were on our toes much better; we can attribute some of that to travel day issue, not practicing [on Wednesday], losing our morning skate today, maybe getting the legs going.
"All in all, I thought the guys competed hard, tried to play the right way, got better as the game went on. I thought we played a more assertive north-south game, which we've been trying to preach. Other than the first few minutes, we started buying into that and I thought we were attacking better.
"Give Varlamov credit, he played very well, which is usually the case with the Islanders. You've got to work to get inside. As I said, we need more of it, but it was better as the game went on."

Battling Through

Cassidy said that to his knowledge the Bruins were not given an option by the National Hockey League to play or not play against the Islanders, despite several additional positive tests on Thursday.
"I don't believe so. That's a question for Donny [Sweeney]," said Cassidy. "It was not discussed with me. I was assuming we were playing all along even with being down one guy. My guess is if there were a few more positives then that option probably would have been on the table. But to my knowledge, it wasn't on the table. We were here to play."
Boston's bench boss acknowledged that it was a day filled with uncertainty after multiple tests were determined to be "invalid" on Thursday morning, requiring further testing to be conducted. But given the salary cap constraints the club was unable to recall any further reinforcements from Providence.
"I'm sure Donny called [the league]," said Cassidy. "Teams have played short one, so we were aware of that. If it was possible under the cap, we would have tried to get someone here. I think it was a cap issue. I'm not 100 percent sure on that, but I do believe that was the case.
"And then the conversation with the league was, 'Well, what if we get a couple more?' We had a staff member pop, but not other players, so then it becomes an issue of how many players can you play short. It worked out that no one else, to my knowledge anyway, tested positive."

Putting Up A Fight

Foligno said that he felt obligated to drop the gloves with Matt Martin in the second period after the Islanders heavyweight landed a high shot on David Pastrnak earlier in the frame. It was Foligno's second fight of the season.
"I just think that's part of what I can bring to the team, first of all," said Foligno. "But also, we're a team. And I think any guy would do it. We're already down two of our best players and Pasta's another one, so you just don't want in that situation with some guys out, you don't want teams smelling blood and I felt like it was the correct answer.
"We handled it and we moved on. I felt like it gave our team a little bit of a spark too, it was good to see the guys respond and play a lot better period."