— x - New York Islanders (@NYIslanders) June 8, 2021
The Islanders came out pretty slow in the first period, with Boston controlling the majority of the frame. The Bruins opened the scoring with a hard one-timer from David Pastrnak, after the Islanders couldn’t get the puck out of danger, with Anthony Beauvillier turning over the puck to Brad Marchand below the goal line. New York would respond on a power play late in the frame, however, as Mathew Barzal came off the boards and towards the net, then roofed the puck over Tuukka Rask to tie the game.
New York had a much better second period, though they were still outshot 15-9. The Islanders took the lead on another power play goal, with Kyle Palmieri burying a pass from Josh Bailey. The Bruins would tie it up a little later though, as Brad Marchand was able to get by Ryan Pulock on a rush, before tucking the puck around Semyon Varlamov to tie the game. The Bruins managed to trap the Islanders in their own zone directly following the goal and got quite a few more good chances after that, but Varlamov kept the game tied.
With just over five minutes to go in the period, Anthony Beauvillier made a great play to track down the puck and get it to the front of the net, where Jean-Gabriel Pageau found Josh Bailey, who beat Rask from in close. Then a couple minutes later, Mathew Barzal would slide the puck to Jordan Eberle, who scored New York’s third power play goal of the game to give the Islanders a 4-2 lead heading into the third period.
New York managed to extend their lead early in the final frame, as Brock Nelson beat Jeremy Swayman from a shot in close, who replaced Rask after the second period. However, the rest of the period was not a good one for New York. They were outshot 18-3 in the third period and according to NaturalStatTrick.com, the Bruins led in high-danger scoring chances by a margin of 8-0 in the period.
David Pastrnak would put another one-timer past Varlamov a couple minutes after Nelson’s goal to cut the lead to 5-3 Islanders. Then later in the period, David Krejci took a shot that was deflected and found its way through Varlamov to cut the lead to a single goal. That’s as close as Boston would come though, as the Islanders held on through the dying minutes for the win.
The game was eerily similar to New York’s win over Pittsburgh in Game 5 of the first round, where they were outplayed through the majority of the game but still managed to pick up a key win. The Islanders capitalized on their opportunities and will now have the chance to close out the series at home tomorrow night.
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Were you surprised by the success the Islanders had on the power play in Game 5?
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