DeBrusk scores in return from injury, Bruins defeat Islanders

BOSTON --Jake DeBrusk had a goal and an assist for the Boston Bruins in a 6-2 win against the New York Islanders at TD Garden on Saturday.

The forward missed 17 games after he sustained hand and leg injuries at the 2023 Discover NHL Winter Classic at Fenway Park against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Jan. 2.
"I've been waiting for this day for a while," DeBrusk said. "I just wanted to get a goal. I just wanted to get [the] first one. It was a great play by 'Marchy' (Brad Marchand) to get that. Even after the goal, it felt a little bit weird to be out there for different times."
Trent Frederic scored twice, Nick Foligno had a goal and an assist, and Linus Ullmark made 26 saves for the Bruins (42-8-5), who have won three in a row. They lead the NHL with 89 points and are an NHL-best 23-2-3 at home.
"Something we talked about, at the start of the year, was being a real hard team at home," Foligno said. "Being a hard place to play, we wanted to get back to that today, so I was really proud of the guys against a heavy team. Everyone plays back to backs in this league, so I don't buy that excuse anymore. We had to play well to play this team. They're a heavy, hard team too, and we got the job done today."

Kyle Palmieri and Matt Martin scored, and Semyon Varlamov made 21 saves for the Islanders (28-24-7), who won 5-4 against the Penguins on Friday.
"It seemed like every time we made a mistake, it ended up in the back of our net," New York coach Lane Lambert said. "[Boston] obviously has the ability to do that. We didn't make a ton of mistakes. … The scoring chances throughout were fairly equal, but we came out on the wrong end of it."
DeBrusk gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead at 2:19 of the first period on the power play, completing a tic-tac-toe sequence with a backhand shot through Varlamov's five-hole.
"I think we were maybe a little bit on our heels," Palmieri said. "[We] put ourselves on the penalty kill. Obviously, that's a pretty dangerous power play over there. They score, they're at home, Saturday night, it's a bit of a momentum shift. It's on us to kind of grab it back there. [We] weren't able to do it."

Foligno made it 2-0 at 9:15 from the left face-off circle, the puck bouncing off Varlamov's pad and in the net.
Frederic pushed it to 3-0 at 17:19 by redirecting Charlie McAvoy's one-timer from the point.
"There's a lot of times in the season where you have the advantage, and sometimes you're at the disadvantage," Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said. "I think that first period is how you want to play when you have a team playing on back to backs."
Palmieri cut it to 3-1 at 6:46 of the second period, bumping in a cross-ice pass from Anders Lee on the doorstep.
Patrice Bergeron gave the Bruins a 4-1 lead at 8:17 by putting in a rebound off the glass behind the net.
"It's one of those things where I'm glad it went in, but then that being said, you kind of move on to the next play," Bergeron said. "We're playing with some great players. It's been a special year in a lot of ways and [I'm] just thankful to be a part of it."
Frederic made it 5-1 at 11:30 with a wrist shot, and Pavel Zacha scored at 18:31 for a 6-1 lead.

Martin scored on a rebound from the slot at 13:42 of the third period for the 6-2 final.
"We definitely could have made the game easier on ourselves, especially early on," Martin said. "We just got to move on from this one. We got another big one on Monday against Pittsburgh."
NOTES:Islanders forward Mathew Barzal left 6:05 into the game with an undisclosed injury after a hit from Bruins forward Craig Smith. He returned to the ice during a stoppage at 7:28 to skate around but returned to the locker room. Lambert did not have an update. … David Pastrnak's assist on DeBrusk's goal was his 300th in his 565th NHL game, the fifth-fewest to reach the mark among skaters to debut with the Bruins behind Bobby Orr (346 games), Ray Bourque (419), Wayne Cashman (558) and David Krejci (560). … Bergeron scored 20 goals for the 14th time in his NHL career. Four active skaters have as many: Alex Ovechkin (18), Sidney Crosby (15), Patrick Kane (14) and Evgeni Malkin (14).