Boston Bruins' Patrice Bergeron (37) and Tyler Seguin (19) celebrate a goal by Bergeron as teammate Brad Marchand skates over during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the New York Islanders at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y., Saturday, March 31, 2012. Marchand and Seguin received assists on the goal in the Bruins' 6-3 win. (AP Photo/Paul J. Bereswill)
Quick game summary
In the first period, David Krejci scored his 22nd goal of the season to make it 1-0. The Islanders would come right back 29 seconds later as Kyle Okposo scored to tie the game 1-1.
In the second period, Gregory Campbell and Michael Haley dropped the gloves and had a spirited fight, most likely due to from a hit Haley put on Campbell earlier in the game. After the fight it looked like Campbell had a bloody lip. Haley is one of those fourth line hit and fight type of players, he is more of a fighter than Campbell is, but props to Campbell for taking him on.
Chris Kelly scored his 20th goal of the season, making it 2-1 Bruins. P.A. Parenteau would score later in the period to tie the game 2-2 for the Islanders.
In the third period the Bruins would break things open and take a commanding lead in the second half of the period. Brad Marchand scored his 27th goal of the season, 3:13 into the period, making it 3-2 Bruins. Later, 10:37 into the period, Tyler Seguin scored his 27th goal of the season, making it 4-2 Bruins. P.A. Parenteau would score a few minutes later for the Islanders, making it 4-3. Less than two minutes later, Patrice Bergeron scored his 21st goal of the season after a strong Marchand-Seguin rush and Bergeron got a loose puck and buried it, making it 5-3 Bruins. Only 24 seconds later, Milan Lucic made a strong rush up the ice and slid the puck to the front of the net and David Krejci had an empty net, scoring his 23rd goal of the season, making it 6-3 Bruins.
Marty Turco played in net for the Bruins, giving Tim Thomas a needed rest. Turco made 19 saves on 22 shots. Turco is now 2-1-0 with a 3.28 GAA and a .867 save percentage this season for the Bruins.
Watching on TV it felt like it was in Boston as there were a lot of Bruins fans in attendance and a lot of Bruins chants going on. I think I even heard "We Want the Cup!"
UNIONDALE, NY - MARCH 31: Fans watch Tyler Seguin #19 of the Boston Bruins skate in warmups prior to the game against the New York Islanders at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum on March 31, 2012 in Uniondale, New York. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
Game notes
Dennis Seidenberg was again out of the lineup and Adam McQuaid was also out. So Joe Corvo and Mike Mottau were in the lineup.
The Bruins led the game in shots 27-22, faceoff wins 36-18 and blocked shots 20-16. The Islanders led the game in hits 20-19.
The Bruins went 0-for-1 on the power-play while the Islanders went 0-for-2.
Claude Julien put the Bergeron-Marchand-Seguin line back together, maybe hoping they sparked before the playoffs to get them going, and it worked as the line combined for 3 goals and 5 assists for 8 points. Bergeron had 1 goal and 1 assist, was +3, had 5 shots and went 13-6 in faceoffs. Brad Marchand had 1 goal and 2 assists, was +3 and had 2 shots. Tyler Seguin had 1 goal and 2 assists, was +3 and had 2 shots.
David Krejci reached a new career high in goals in a season, now with 23 goals this season.
Zdeno Chara had 2 assists, was +4 and led the Bruins with 4 blocked shots.
Gregory Campbell and Milan Lucic led the Bruins with 3 hits apiece.
Quotes after the game
Chris Kelly on scoring 20 goals this season: "It's nice to get that kind of a milestone. But I'm a perfect example of being the product of playing on a good team." Source
Now that's a player that gets it and I hope the Bruins re-sign him. I have a feeling teams may throw more money at him but hopefully he and the Bruins can work something out.
Onto the next one
The Bruins are now 46-28-4 with 96 points with only 4 games left to play. Ottawa has 90 points with the same amount of games played. The Bruins next game is tomorrow night at the New York Rangers at 7pm ET.
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