Takeaways: Islanders Lose 6-3 to Bruins 

The New York Islanders fell 6-3 to the Boston Bruins on Wednesday night, finishing their three-game homestand with a record of 1-2-0.

Brock Nelson (2G, 1A) and Max Tsyplakov scored for the Islanders, but Boston exploded with six goals from Brad Marchand (2G), Morgan Geekie, Pavel Zacha (2G) and Nikita Zadorov, including three in the third period. Ilya Sorokin turned aside 15 of 20 shots in the loss, while Joonas Korpisalo made 21 saves in the win.

The result stings for the Isles, who overcame 2-0 and 3-2 deficits to tie the score, but could not get the job done in an important matchup against an Eastern Conference opponent neck and neck in the standings.

“We battled back all night tonight, kept tying the game up and just weren’t able to re-tie it in the third,” said Captain Anders Lee. “We have to be better, there’s no doubt. We’re not winning hockey games.”

The Bruins got off to a hot start after Elias Lindholm won the draw in the Isles zone, directing the puck to Marchand, who snapped a shot from the high slot to break open the score open at the 51 second mark.

Justin Brazeau deepened the Bruins lead when he edged out Scott Mayfield and Dennis Cholowski for control of the puck in the slot to find Marchand, who scored his second goal of the game at the 6:31 mark of the opening frame. Down 2-0 from two quick ones from the Bruins superstar, Head Coach Patrick Roy called a timeout to settle down his team.

“We didn’t have a good start, we called a timeout because I just wanted to make sure we didn’t dig ourselves in too big of a hole,” Roy said. “We wanted to give ourselves a chance to stay in that game.”

The timeout was effective and gave the Isles some life. Nelson corralled the puck at the half wall and chipped it over to Tsyplakov, who flicked it with a backhand that beat Korpisalo five-hole to get the Islanders on the board at 12:50 of the first. The Russian winger nearly had a second goal a few minutes later when he used a slick move to get open in the slot, but Korpisalo made the stop.

Sorokin kept the Islanders in it early, denying David Pastrnak on a partial breakaway to keep it 2-1. The Isles kept pushing, as Nelson entered the zone with speed, firing off a wrister from the right circle that beat Korpisalo cleanly to knot the game at two apiece at 8:52 of the second period.

The Bruins jumped ahead again, when Zacha sent a cross-ice feed to Geekie, who regained the lead for the Bruins to make it 3-2. In a strong response, the Isles swarmed Boston’s zone in the waning seconds of the middle frame, as Nelson wristed a shot through Korpisalo from a tough angle to tie the score at three apiece.

Tied at three heading into the final frame, the Islanders’ third period woes continued against the Bruins, where they allowed the game-winning goal in the third period for the fourth time in the last six games. Pavel Zacha scored twice in the span of 2:35, the first off a deflection, which held up as the game-winner, with the second coming on a backhander in tight.

Down 5-3 with 5:10 to play, Anders Lee drew the first penalty of the game but the Islanders could not convert on the man advantage. Zadorov buried the empty-netter to put the game away after exiting the penalty box. The Bruins, who have scored eight total goals in their last six contests, put up six goals which tied a season-high.

For the Islanders, their 36 third period goals against remained a league high.

“It was disappointing,” Kyle Palmieri said. “It was a tie game in the third, so we had a chance to win, but it didn’t go our way. It’s frustrating but we’ll reset and get ourselves ready to go on the road in Washington.”

ODDS AND ENDS

• Tsyplakov led the team in hits (6) and buried his third goal of the season on Wednesday, which was his first goal in his last 12 games. The Russian winger leads the team with 10 assists.

• Nelson recorded his second multi-goal game of the season in the loss. His three-game point streak (2G, 1A) extended his point streak to three games, with three goals and four assists over that span.

• With an assist on Nelson’s second goal of the game, Horvat snapped a five-game pointless drought.

• George strung together a two-game point streak (2A) with the secondary helper on Tsyplakov’s second goal, which is his first point streak of his NHL career.

• Horvat and Oliver Wahlstrom tied for the team lead in shots on goal (4).

LINEUP NOTES

The only lineup change for the Isles has been between the pipes, as Sorokin made his 14th start of the season and made 15 of 20 saves in the loss.

NOTABLE QUOTE

Nelson on forging ahead and turning the page against tough opponents:

“We talk about getting on a good stretch and the teams in the East are chasing. We have a lot of hockey left and we know we can get the job done to go on a little run because all these games are crucial. We need to learn from our mistakes and be better.”

NEXT GAME

The Islanders head down to the nation’s capital to take on the Washington Capitals on Friday in the first half of a back-to-back set. Puck drop is set for 3 p.m.