Barzal Brings It in Big Night vs Bruins

There hasn't been any easy ice in the second round series between the New York Islanders and Boston Bruins and that may have been double for Mathew Barzal in the
Islanders 4-1 win in Game 4
on Saturday night.
Barzal was in tough against a big and heavy Bruins team, officially on the receiving end of two hits, but involved in
plenty of physical play between the whistles and after
. The flashpoint - and easily the most painful part of the night for Barzal - came when the Islanders forward took a stick to the midsection from Boston's David Krejci in the second period.

Instead of getting sidetracked and taking a retaliatory penalty Barzal hit back where it hurt the most, batting in the game-winning goal with 6:57 to play in the third period.
"He's battling through everything. He's our top guy and you know guys are going to try and take runs at him, try to finish him and he keeps pushing forward," Casey Cizikas said of Barzal. "There's no give in that kid and you can see that tonight. He keeps attacking, he keeps creating offense and creating plays. I thought, not just offensively, I thought he was good in our own zone as well. He battled hard, he was in the right spot and you get rewarded playing like that."

Barzal finished the game with two points, setting up Kyle Palmieri on the game-tying goal at 6:38 of the second period. The Islanders' center went to circle the net, drawing attention before dishing back out to Palmieri in front of the net.
His winner was a highly-skilled play, batting a Scott Mayfield rebound out of the air and past Rask, marking at least the third time Barzal has knocked a rebound out of the air.
"A little bit of luck, a little bit of hand-eye, everything was involved there," Barzal said of his goal. "The puck takes a weird skip and I don't think many people knew where it was. I was just trying to get to the net as quick as I could. I was fortunate that I don't think Tuukka could really see it, we had some good net presence."
The two points extended Barzal's current streak to three-straight game, with four points (2G, 2A) over that span. After a slow start production-wise to the postseason, the Islanders regular season point leader is heating up.
"It's nice anytime you get on the board and help your team," Barzal said. "Throughout the whole playoffs I've been pretty happy with my compete level and we're winning games. So if the points aren't there, but we're winning games I'm okay with that. It's not going to be the same guy every night, so the last few games I knew I had to step up, it's been a heavy series and I had to step up and that's all I've tried to do is raise my compete. Again, just trying to do what I can to help this team win."

Part of Barzal's production has been the result of paying the price, a response to Trotz's challenge to dig in and step his game up to another level. Barzal's first goal of the playoffs - in Game 3 - wasn't an end-to-end rush, but rather a second effort to jam in a puck at the side of the net. Those types of goals typically come with ice packs at the end of the night, but also kudos from coaches.
"He was competing, he was fighting for his inches," Trotz said of Barzal. "I liked Mat's game, he was dangerous all night. He kept putting pucks to the net and creating. Even the one where he drove wide and took it to the net, that's how you're going to score in the playoffs and he's doing it right now."
Barzal was visibly pumped up when he was named the First Star on Saturday night, shouting "Let's go!" and "Our house!" to the fans at the Coliseum. It was a fiery way to end an evening that had plenty of sparks. Now with seven points (2G, 5A) in 10 playoff games this season, the Islanders are hoping Barzal is fully ignited for the rest of the way.