Boston Bruins Sink New York Islanders 6-3 on Start of Final Week of the Season

The last week of the regular season is upon us and the playoff picture is far from clear.

The Boston Bruins were looking to rebound from their 3-2 shootout loss to the Washington Capitals.  The plus side of the loss for the Bruins was that they came back from a  2-0 deficit (sound familiar?) and forced the single point.

The New York Islanders were next on the docket. This team has been playing much better, as they are now in spoiler mode.

They had won their last three games against top contending teams including the red-hot Pittsburgh Penguins in back-to-back games at a 5-3 final score apiece.

They also defeated the Florida Panthers, a team looking to get back into the playoffs for the first time in 10 years.

Saturday, the Isles took on the Bruins, who were looking to end their season on a positive note.

The Bruins had won five of their last seven games and earned points in six of those.

Marty Turco got the nod and played very well, having a light day, stopping 19 of only 22 shots.

Isles netminder Al Montoya had a slightly busier day but stopped only 21 of 27 shots.

First Period

David Krejci opened up the scoring with a buck-49 left of the opening frame.  Milan Lucic slipped a pass to Krejci and he made a one-time wrister right past Montoya.

The Isles quickly displayed why a team that had nothing to lose was just as dangerous.

Just 29 seconds later, Kyle Okposo used Greg Zanon as a screen and ripped a shot past Turco to knot it up at one.

Second Period

Chris Kelly ripped a shot from a rebound as he just got on the ice and beat Montoya high, glove side.

P.A. Parenteau evened up the game again with a redirect from John Traveres' shot on net.  With Turco cutting down the angle on the right side, the left side was wide open for Parenteau to bury an easy shot.

Final Frame...the Flood Gates begin to Open...

The Bruins showed the Isles why they are considered the most dangerous team in the league in the third period.

Early in the period, Tyler Seguin slipped a pass to Brad Marchand, who deked Montoya and slipped the puck in low and to the right side to give the Bruins the lead for the third and final time of the game.  3-2 Bruins.

Seguin got into the scoring fray with a quick wrister that looked like Montoya should have gotten, but it beat him to extend the lead by two goals.  4-2 Bruins.

The Isles tried to make it interesting.  Matt Moulson quickly passed the puck to a charging Parenteau, who got it past Turco for his second goal of the game with just 5:07 left of the game.  4-3 Bruins.

The Bruins ended any chance for the Isles to spoil the party.

Marchand sped his way into the zone, attracting more attention than needed, and passed it to Seguin.  Seguin charged the net and tried to put it in, but Monoyta got it with his left pad, only to have it rebound to Patrice Bergeron, who popped it in the wide open left side of the net.  5-3 Bruins.

Just 24 seconds later, Milan Lucic was charging the net and just when it looked like he was going to make a backhand attempt, Montoya bit and the puck was centered instead to Krejci, who put in his second tally of the game.

This was the 16th time this season that the Bruins scored goals within a minute of each other.

That was also the final goal of a 6-3 victory for the Bruins.

Next up, the Bruins play at the Big Apple to take on the Eastern Conference's top team in the New York Rangers in their final back-to-back games (thank God) for the season.

The Bruins have yet to defeat the Rangers this season, having only earned a point out of the last three games.