Bruins Notes: Boston Pleased With ‘Response’ In Win Vs. Islanders

The Boston Bruins were committed despite the hurdles thrown their way during Wednesday night’s battle against the New York Islanders.

Boston coughed up two leads to New York, in the first and second periods, leaving it up to the Bruins to dig deep in their resiliency and poise. It would’ve only taken one goal to put the Islanders away but Boston had other plans, exploding for an impressive three-goal showing en route to a 6-3 victory at UBS Arena.

“We kept playing,” Bruins interim head coach Joe Sacco said, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “… The second period got away from us a little bit, self-inflicted — some of the mistakes that we made. But to show the resiliency that we did in the third and just stick with the game plan. Fortunately for us, we found a few more in the back of the net. It’s not an easy game, right? It’s back-to-back and I thought our guys showed a great response in the third period.”

Brad Marchand gave Boston as good a head start as possible, netting two goals in the first nine minutes of the night. That didn’t hold up, however, nor did Morgan Geekie’s go-ahead score in the second period to put the Bruins ahead 3-2. So, Boston had no choice but to lock in and maintain their focus.

Marchand revealed a little about what was second during the second intermission.

“Just had to be better in details,” Marchand said, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “That’s where we’ve been having success the last little bit and what we’ll always have. That’s what the foundation of this team has always been, is executing the details and being committed to the structure. We got away from it a little bit in the second but did a great job in the third.”

Pavel Zacha took inspiration from Marchand’s first-period performance and netted two goals of his own, sparking a trio-goal rally in the final period to bury New York. It was more than enough, but spoke volumes about what the Bruins can unleash moving forward. Boston, now 11-10-3, head into Thanksgiving with the satisfying taste of a 4-1 start under Sacco’s leadership.

Here are more notes from Wednesday night’s Bruins-Islanders matchup:

— Marchand’s multi-goal performance marked his 64th in a Bruins uniform, putting the 36-year-old ahead of Rick Middleton and tied with teammate David Pastrnak for the fourth most in team history.

“He came ready to play tonight,” Sacco said, per NESN. “You can see he was winning battles. He was just ready to go and that’s what you expect from (No.) 63.”

— Zacha scored twice after totaling three goals in his first 23 games logged this season.

“It was a good game,” Zacha said, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “We took over in the third period. I think we just kept playing the same game and creating chances and it paid off today.”

— Bruins goaltender Joonas Korpisalo collected 21 saves in the win over the Islanders, giving the 30-year-old a 4-0-1 record with a .933 save percentage and two shutouts over his last five appearances.

— Boston’s six goals were the most scored since the team’s season opener (six) against the Florida Panthers back on Oct. 8, and the first time the Bruins recorded at least five goals at even strength.

— The Bruins will return to action on Friday night, hosting the Pittsburgh Penguins (8-12-4) at TD Garden. Puck drop is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET, and the game will be aired on TNT.