New York Islanders vs Boston Bruins Match Player Stats On Dec 19, 2019

Jordan Eberle and Mathew Barzal scored in the shootout as the New York Islanders beat the host Boston Bruins 3-2 on Thursday.

Barzal also tallied in regulation, and Johnny Boychuk had a goal and an assist as the Islanders won for the fourth time in their last five games. Semyon Varlamov made 27 saves.

Anders Bjork and Torey Krug scored for the Bruins, who lost for the seventh time in their last eight (1-4-3). Tuukka Rask stopped 19 shots.

Eberle and Barzal each sniped the top corners of the net in the first two rounds of the shootout, and David Pastrnak scored for Boston to force a third round. Varlamov turned away Brad Marchand to seal the result -- the Islanders snapping a seven-game losing streak to the Bruins.

Trailing 2-1 in the third period, the Bruins were gifted a 5-on-3 when Brock Nelson was assessed a delay-of-game penalty with the Islanders already on the kill. Krug made New York pay eight seconds into the two-man advantage with a one-timer from the left circle to knot the score at 2 with 7:24 on the clock.

Boston was unable to do anything with the remaining 1:53 on the second penalty, as the score remained tied.

The contest was largely a defensive struggle through the first two periods, each team registering just 10 shots on net. The pace picked up late in the second, and Varlamov made two key saves -- including a robbery of a prime scoring chance by Bjork with the glove -- to keep the score tied.

New York later took advantage of out-of-position defense by Boston as Boychuk found Barzal open in front of the net to make it 2-1 with 1:34 left in the period.

Bjork got the Bruins on the board 1:58 into the contest with a wrister off the top crossbar after Charlie Coyle forced a turnover and kept the puck in the zone.

The Islanders tied the score on a blast from Boychuk through traffic from just past the blue line at 3:26 of the second. Boychuk ended a 28-game goalless run.

--Field Level Media