Monday's regular season finale was no cakewalk, as the Islanders and Bruins engaged in a physical and heated, playoff-style game before the real thing this weekend.
Boston outshot the Islanders 18-4 in the first period, a shot total that was skewed by three Bruins' power plays in the opening frame. Hall opened the scoring at 19:21, seven seconds into a Boston five-on-three (the Islanders first five-on-three allowed this season), but the Islanders notched the game shortly after.
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Wahlstrom's PPG
Barzal's Second-Period Strike
After entering the second period four-on-four, the Islanders generated a brief four-on-three man advantage, where Wahlstrom had plenty of space to blast a one-timer by Tuukka Rask at 1:38.
The Bruins took a 2-1 at 6:15, as Brad Marchand got inside position in front of the net and finished off some pretty passing from David Pastrnak and David Krecji. Again, the Islanders hung around and managed to tie the score shortly after.
Rask couldn't handle a Pulock clapper and after retraining and regrouping, Pulock eventually found Barzal curling into the slot, where the center beat the Bruins goalie top shelf at 8:31.
Boston outshot the Isles 9-5 in a scoreless third period and one that featured a lot of extracurriculars after the whistle. The Islanders outhit the Bruins 41-25 in what was a heavy contest, which several players said was a good ramp up for playoffs.
"The last few teams we played, we had Buffalo and then New Jersey, they were out of the playoffs. The physicality wasn't there," Barzal said. "So, tonight to get a game like that, a game that was heavy all game - I thought we were heavy too - it was nice to get that feeling back. That competitiveness, a little bit of that hunger, a little bit of that fire. I think it was good for us."