After a fight-filled Wednesday night affair at the TD Garden, the Boston Bruins rookies to the ice for the final tune-up in their two game series of exhibition contests against the New York Islanders. On the day after an affair that saw the Bruins rookies cruise and pummel their way to an easy 5-2 win led by Jordan Caron's three goals, the irritated Isles came into the contest rested and ready to fight in the corners where the Bruins made life hell just 24 hours ago.

In the aftermath of the Joe Colborne injury that left the Bruins first-round pick from ‘08 on the shelf with a mild concussion, and facial lacerations along with a chipped tooth, there was some noted animosity hanging over but with six players (three on both sides) facing potential game-misconducts for any fighting major, this was a game to be decided by whomever executed their game-plan better while executing a solid fore-checking presence.

Dominating the possession game throughout the entire period, the Islanders offensive attack led by the Justin Dibenedetto and his four shots on goal peppered B’s goaltender Michael Hutchinson for 12 shots in the period, the lone goal coming on a spur-of-the-moment slapshot from the half-wall by Isles forward Tony Romano. Despite putting on a mild four shots in the first period, the B’s rookie penalty-killing unit continued its success by killing off both of the Islanders’ power-play opportunities.

Heading into the locker room out-shot and out-played by the Islanders in a complete 180 from last night, P-Bruins coach Rob Murray felt the team slipping but had more encouraging words than disparaging for his young brigade.

“I basically told them that we knew they were a little bit short staffed over there,” Murray said regarding the team’s play, adding a quote that truly put the style of play executed over this past two series.

“We stick to our game and keep grinding it out and in the end hopefully we can win out and take it over.”

Starting the second period with an elevated sense of urgency and incorporating the lullaby-induced crowd, the Bruins got the announced crowd of over 14,000 on their feet after a heated Lane MacDermid fight against Isles forward Travis Hamonic. One of the six to battle last night, Hamonic received a game misconduct for the bout but the bigger story of the period came when 2010 second-round pick Ryan Spooner did his best Paul Bunyan impression by hammering a puck out of mid-air and through Kevin Poulin to knot the game up at one.

As the chippy play continued from both sides as period three began and ended deadlocked in a 1-1 stalemate, the Bruins and Isles were heading towards a five minute overtime with New York holding a 33-29 shot advantage.

SPOONER STRIKES FOR THE WINNER

While the Bruins were unable to score on a great dish to Yury Alexandrov from Spooner, the 18-year old center from Kanata, Ontario struck on a breakaway through Poulin’s five-hole due in large part to an excellent dish from Max Sauve.

“That last pass in overtime was awesome,” Spooner said, “I just went in and shot five-hole. Most of the credit should go to [Sauve] because without that pass I wouldn’t have been on a breakaway.”

SEGUIN STAYS OFF SCORE-SHEET IN ROUGH CONTEST
As Seguin-mania continued last night following a two-assist performance, the Bruins’ superstar rookie had a rather pedestrian evening for the Bruins, staying off the score-sheet and logging just two shots throughout the contest. While struggling at the face-off dot for much of the evening, the play of Seguin from a defensive aspect was sufficient despite a few turnovers throughout the contest, perhaps a result of nerves after being targeted by some big hits from the relentless Islanders.

“They were keying on [Seguin] on the breakout power-play,” B’s GM Peter Chiarelli said addressing the media after the contest.

Happy with the pushback that Seguin showed throughout the evening when challenged, Chiarelli also noted his happiness with Seguin’s ability to shoot on the rush.

SIX CUTS EXPECTED BY START OF TRAINING CAMP

With the NHL veterans and AHLers officially reporting in for their fitness tests tomorrow morning in Boston, Chiarelli confirmed that he anticipates making “five or six” cuts from the rookie squad before the start of the training camp.

Who are your six, Bruins fans?

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