The Islanders came up empty against a struggling Bruins team, wasting a good first period and countless power play opportunities to end up losing convincingly, 5-2 in Boston.
The story could look like it came down to special teams, with the Isles going 0-for-5 on the power play while giving up two Bruins power play goals. But that was really just the details of what started out with a good first 20 minutes and 2-0 lead, but was erased in a four-minute span early in the second.
[
NHL Gamecenter |
Game Summary |
Event Summary |
Natural Stat Trick]
First Period: Looks like this is gonna be easy…
The Bruins were playing a back-to-back after losing last night in Ottawa, but the first shift could’ve gone completely differently. The Isles were hemmed in, but after a good Bruins scoring chance went wide the Isles counterattacked 3-on-2.
Jonathan Drouin, who continues to make precise, soft passes into space, set up Bo Horvat for a shot from the circle while Emil Heineman drove the net. Horvat tallied to give the Isles a 1-0 lead at 1:08.
Bo Horvat wastes no time
The
@NYIslanders take the lead just a minute and eight seconds into the opening frame!
: Frozen Frenzy Whiparound coverage on
@ESPNPlus pic.twitter.com/WSjQK5mGWk
— NHL (@NHL)
October 28, 2025
After that, the Isles had the better of play and doubled their lead just a few minutes later, Kyle Palmieri scoring with Ilya Sorokin pulled on a delayed penalty, Matthew Schaefer, Bo Horvat and Mathew Barzal making some sweet music together.
Kyle Palmieri makes it 2-0!
pic.twitter.com/GLb5dL4BPZ
— Islanders Videos (@SNY_Islanders)
October 28, 2025
The rest of the period remained in the Isles’ favor, outshooting the Bruins 10-4 overall and giving Sorokin little else to do. They had one empty power play that came after Nikita Zadarov inexplicably shoved Adam Pelech from behind at a dangerous difference from the boards. Zadarov realized his mistake mid-stream and tried to brace Pelech’s crash into the boards, but the Isles defenseman was lucky to avoid injury.
Second Period: Looks like this is going to be maddening
The second period was a different story. The Bruins stormed back, boosted in part by a couple of consecutive power plays, the first one on an idiotic call. Charlie McAvoy grabbed Anders Lee’s midsection while tangling up legs, and they both went down as Lee braced himself. Bad call, but the Isles killed it off, with help from a few missed shots.
Marshall Warren then took the first penalty of his career, and this time the Bruins cashed in to cut the lead in half at 3:57.
Three minutes later, while the Isles broadcast team was praising David Pastrnak’s unheralded passing ability, the Bruins winger made a phonebooth pass to open up space in the Isles zone, then crept down the right wing to receive a pass and beat Sorokin five-hole to tie it at 2-2.
And 59 seconds after that, the Bruins had the lead. They were outshooting the Isles in the period 9-1 and had scored three goals in under four minutes to completely flip the game around.
Patrick Roy called a timeout and that seemed to provide the necessary reset. Horvat had a golden chance to tie it set up by Heineman, but Joonas Korpisalo stayed patient and square. The Isles then got a four-minute power play after Hampus Lindholm high sticked Palmieri, drawing blood.
The first unit couldn’t get anything generated, but the second unit came on and provided life before the intermission. Still, nothing happening, with a little over a minute of power play left to take into the third.
Third Period: Snooze…
They didn’t get anything going with the end of that power play, but the next opportunity had some great looks from the second unit, then a few more from the first. Still, all misfires plus a few decent Korpisalo stops.
Then Zadorov got a breakaway and drew a slashing call on a protesting Adam Pelech, whose stick got up on Zadorov’s glove. Sure enough, the Bruins cashed in with a long-range one-timer from Morgan Geekie — who somehow has eight goals now — to make it 4-2 with 14:12 to go.
That was pretty much it. Another power play, another blank, and when they pulled Sorokin for a sixth attacker with four minutes left, Barzal overplayed it at the blueline and the inevitable empty net goal came.
Up Next
This was the game from this trip where they needed two points. The road trip continues and finishes with its toughest half, a back-to-back against the Hurricanes and Capitals Thursday and Friday.
