Much of the strong play in front of Rask came from the pairing of Torey Krug and Brandon Carlo. With Boston's No. 1 duo of Chara and Charlie McAvoy assigned to track the Islanders top line, the responsibility of defending Barzal, Andrew Ladd, and Jordan Eberle fell to Krug and Carlo. The tandem had a terrific night as they kept the Islanders second-line trio off the board.
"That kid's a heck of a player," Krug, who had two assists, said of Barzal. "Seems like the puck follows him around. A couple bigger bodies that play with him and get to the net. It was a fun matchup for Brandon and myself. We both skate well and tried to shut them down with good gaps. When he's coming at you with all that speed it's tough, but I thought we did a good job overall."
Barzal did manage a point - with Chara and McAvoy on the ice as the penalty to Backes expired - when he picked up an assist on Lee's goal that cut the Bruins lead to 2-1 with just 3:08 remaining. It was all the Islanders could muster.
"We did a good job - obviously they're a good team with some firepower and some really skilled guys, so we did a good job of defending from the inside out and Tuukks played a heck of a game," said Krug. "He got a chance to see a lot of pucks and played it with a lot of confidence and our penalty killers were great."