Stingy Defensive Effort Paces B's Over Islanders

BOSTON- The Bruins knew they had their work cut out for them on Saturday night. Boston was getting its first look at rookie sniper Matthew Barzal, who has joined an already potent New York Islanders lineup that includes John Tavares, Anders Lee, and Josh Bailey to form one of the NHL's best offensive attacks.
A strong defensive effort was needed from top to bottom. And that's exactly what the Bruins put forth.

Led by a 30-save performance by Tuukka Rask and some stifling play from the back end, the B's charged to a 3-1 victory over the Isles at TD Garden for their eighth win in 10 games.
"We talked about the one thing that we had to really take care of was our D-zone tonight and we definitely did that," said Patrice Bergeron. "Especially against an offensive team like the Islanders with so many gifted players, you can't give them space and room, especially in the slot. I thought we kept them on the outside for the most part.
"Obviously they're going to get some chances, they're good players, but I thought it was a really good effort."

Contributing to the stingy performance was Boston's penalty kill. The unit had a perfect night in shutting down all four of New York's power plays, which included two five-minute majors in the third period - one on Brad Marchand for interference and one on David Backes for head butting. On both majors, the Bruins drew penalties which helped limit the time they spent shorthanded.
"Those majors ended up being kind of three-minte power plays for them and then we draw a penalty. We cut it in half twice," said Zdeno Chara. "That's something that shows guys are working hard even away from the puck. Even when we are shorthanded we are capable of being dangerous and that's what happened, we drew some penalties."
Boston has now allowed one goal or fewer in three of its last four games and is playing its best all-around hockey of the season in front of Rask, who has won four straight starts. Including his relief performance in Nashville, the B's ace netminder has allowed just five goals over his last five games for a 1.10 goals against average and .955 save percentage.
"Making those saves you can see he's clear. He's ready for anything, for every shot, and he looks confident," said Bergeron. "Tonight he was great."

After a tough month of November, during which he ceded the net to Anton Khudobin for a four-game stretch, Rask has found his stride and appears relaxed and composed between the pipes. Rask credited the play in front of him for his recent success.
"I've had good rhythm to my game," said Rask. "Guys are doing a good job eliminating the second chances and obviously if you don't get rebounds all the time it helps too, but we're skating back so hard that we are kind of forcing them to take shots in bad spots and when they don't have all the time in the world to pick the corners up, it's kind of easier for me too.
"I think that's played a huge part of that, coming back to our own zone and shutting them down in the slot area and also blocking a ton of shots. We're not shying away from that, so I think all of those things together have made it."

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."

DeBrusk Comes Through

Jake DeBrusk was forced to watch most of the second period from the Bruins' dressing room. Following a heavy hit on Charlie McAvoy by Casey Cizikas, the rookie winger confronted the Isles forward and dropped the gloves.
Even though it appeared the two players were willing participants, DeBrusk was issued an instigator and misconduct leading to 17 minutes in penalties. But the 21-year-old returned for the third period and potted the eventual winner with a spin-o-rama snipe from the slot at 6:45.
"It was a bit of a different scenario to say the least," said DeBrusk. "It was something that happened and I honestly didn't try to get an instigator or anything like that…it was just one of those things you can't control.
"I watched the period in here and just felt a little out of sorts, just wanted to get back in action and wanted to make the first shift a good one. Was lucky enough to cash in on a goal."

Still Streaking

Marchand and David Pastrnak both extended their points streaks on Saturday night.
Marchand opened the scoring with a power-play tally with 9:09 to go in the second. Krug lugged the puck through the neutral zone and found Marchand at the opposing blue line. Marchand then broke in alone on Islanders goalie Jaroslav Halak and trickled one through the five-hole for his 11th goal of the season.
The goal extended Marchand's points streak to five games (3-5-8). Pastrnak picked up an assist on the goal - and later added a helper on DeBrusk's goal - to extend his points streak to eight games (4-6-10).

Wait, There's More

Danton Heinen notched an empty-netter with 42 seconds remaining for his sixth goal of the season…Backes was issued a game misconduct for head butting Andrew Ladd during a scuffle at 11:47 of the third…Noel Acciari was a surprise scratch against and was ruled day-to-day with an upper-body injury. Frank Vatrano slid into his spot on the right side of Boston's fourth line.