UNIONDALE – (Staff and Wire Services Report) – Boston winger Brad Marchand scored 3:36 into overtime Thursday night as the visiting Bruins edged the New York Islanders, 2-1, in Game 3 of an Eastern Conference second-round series on Long Island. The Bruins now lead the best-of-seven series two games to one.
Game 4 is scheduled for Saturday night in Uniondale.
The Islanders were outshot 39-24 in regulation but opened the overtime with momentum following Mathew Barzal’s goal with 5:26 left. New York had five of the first six shots before Marchand, leaping over the boards in a shift change, took a pass from Long Island native Charlie McAvoy and fired an angled shot that sailed past defenseman Ryan Pulock and over the far shoulder of Semyon Varlamov.
Craig Smith scored in the first for the Bruins.
Boston goalkeeper Tuukaa Rask made 28 saves while NY’s Varlamov recorded 39 saves.
The Islanders outshot the Bruins 7-5 in the first, but Smith, who missed Game 2 with a lower-body injury, put Boston ahead a little less than six minutes after faceoff.
Barzal and the Bruins’ Taylor Hall battled each other for the puck as they skated into the Boston zone. Hall finally won the duel and handed the puck off to Matt Grzelyck, who raced up the neutral zone before dishing back to Hall, who was stationed at the right faceoff circle. Hall passed to Smith, whose shot from the slot sailed beyond the outstretched stick of Jordan Eberle and over Varlamov’s glove at the 5:52 mark.
Both teams had plenty of chances during a scoreless second, during which the Bruins held a 13-8 shot advantage. The Islanders had four shots during a power play created when David Pastrnak was whistled for slashing, but Rask stopped Anthony Beauvillier from point-blank range with 10:15 left.
Varlamov turned away back-to-back shots in the crease by David Krejci and Smith with a little more than five minutes left. Those near-misses began a period-ending sequence in which the Bruins had eight of the final nine shots, including five unanswered in the final 2:58.
The Bruins continued peppering Varlamov in the third. Smith was stymied at the doorstep a little more than a minute into the period and Chris Wagner couldn’t finish a wrap-around eight minutes in for Boston, which outshot the Islanders 15-4 to open the third before collecting four more shots after Josh Bailey was whistled for tripping at the 11:04 mark.
Barzal finally tied it for the Islanders with 5:26 left when his second attempt of a wraparound trickled between Rask’s legs. New York almost took the lead with 3:15 left, when Rask cradled a point-blank breakaway by Beauvillier off a Bruins turnover.
In 2013, Ainge rapidly rebuilt the franchise in a series of moves, none more notable than trading Garnett and Pierce in a deal that netted lottery picks that were used to select current Celtics All Stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. That was also the summer Ainge and ownership hired Stevens.
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