Boston Bruins: 5 Keys to Matchup with New York Islanders

A battle to get out of the Eastern Conference cellar is slated for Monday night when the Boston Bruins host the New York Islanders, each team presently boasting 10 points apiece.

Even casting the standings issue aside, there is still a desire for continued redemption on both sides. Each team is reeling off refreshing wins on Saturday, both coming against one of the conference’s hotter October performers.

Only one team can immediately add to the traction it has just gained.

The five keys to the matchup are as follows.

Quicker Turnaround

The Bruins finally attained their first instance of back-to-back wins with Saturday’s 7-0 triumph in Toronto. Although, that came a good four nights after their previous outing, a 5-3 home win over Ottawa.

This time around, they will have had half as much time to transition from one adversary to the next, as they seek to morph their first two-game winning streak into their first three-game streak.

The Islanders have already compiled a set of three successive victories but promptly followed that with a 0-4-2 skid that didn’t end until they vanquished the Washington Capitals on Saturday.

Home Cooking

Granted, Monday night will only be their fourth contest somewhere other than Nassau Coliseum, but the Islanders are one of only two teams that still haven’t pillaged a two-point package from someone else’s ice mansion.

They are 0-2-1 on the road, their only point coming in a shootout loss at Pittsburgh. Only the dead-last Columbus Blue Jackets have had tougher luck in that scenario, at 0-7-0.

Meanwhile, the Bruins will vie to exploit that en route to a little home improvement, as they enter their five-game homestand with a subpar 3-5-0 record at TD Garden.

Dormant Volcanoes

Besides their current position in the standings, another common thread between the Bruins and Islanders is that most of their wins have come courtesy of an offensive eruption.

Of New York’s four victories, two have been 5-1 and 5-3 decisions at the expense of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Washington.

Boston has five wins to its credit, including a 4-1 triumph over the aforementioned Bolts, a 5-3 edging of the Ottawa Senators and a pair of blowouts over Toronto by a cumulative tally of 13-2.

Trapping Tavares

Third-year sensation John Tavares is responsible for inserting more than one-third of the Islanders’ goals. Out of a team total of 23, eight have come off his stick.

Although, Tavares’ output has been sporadic, and the Isles are 1-4-1 when he fails to produce a point, with no more than two goals as a team in any of those six games. They were shut out altogether in three of those four regulation losses.

While Tavares had a hand in four goals as part of New York’s 5-1 win over Tampa, the same Lightning team kept him off the scoresheet one week later and stifled the Islanders, 4-1.

Beyond Tavares’ line with Matt Moulson and Michael Grabner, the other nine forwards on New York’s active depth chart have combined for eight goals.

Therefore, if Boston’s defense can fetter the Islanders’ top unit, it will be on a multitude of slumping scorers to perk up without fail.

Keeping Up The Heat

As vital as it will be to fluster Tavares on the home front, the Bruins offense must hold up its end of the bargain by flexing its superior depth in the Islanders’ zone.

This means ensuring that the Bruins' many kinetic producers build upon their recent contributions.

Patrice Bergeron, Milan Lucic and Tyler Seguin have all produced in at least five of the last six games. David Krejci just splashed a six-game production drought with a goal and two helpers on Saturday.

And, third-liners Chris Kelly and Rich Peverley have both put their names to a few recent scoresheets.