Eyes On Isles
Fansided

Islanders defy narrative by eliminating Bruins: Three takeaways

By Michel Anderson

UNIONDALE, NEW YORK - JUNE 09: The New York Islanders celebrate an empty net goal by Cal Clutterbuck #15 of the New York Islanders against the Boston Bruins in Game Six of the Second Round of the 2021 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Nassau Coliseum on June 09, 2021 in Uniondale, New York. The Islanders defeated the Bruins 6-2 to move on to the Stanley Cup Semifinals against the Tampa Bay Lightning. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
UNIONDALE, NEW YORK - JUNE 09: The New York Islanders celebrate an empty net goal by Cal Clutterbuck #15 of the New York Islanders against the Boston Bruins in Game Six of the Second Round of the 2021 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Nassau Coliseum on June 09, 2021 in Uniondale, New York. The Islanders defeated the Bruins 6-2 to move on to the Stanley Cup Semifinals against the Tampa Bay Lightning. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /
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Craig Smith #12 of the Boston Bruins argues a second-period penalty with referee Jean Hebert #15 during the game against the New York Islanders. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

Discipline/PK

Did the Islanders get away with a few calls? Sure. That Palmieri elbow on Charlie McAvoy in Game 6 should have been called. That should have been, at minimum, a two-minute elbowing minor. There’s also a Brock Nelson boarding play on McAvoy earlier in the series that went uncalled as well. And I’m sure a Bruins fan could point out a few more that I missed.

The Isles weren’t, as Cassidy suggested, Saints.

But no were the Bruins. They were rightfully called for more penalties than the Islanders in this series, and they paid the price for it.

There was no controversy. There was no agenda. The Bruins have been an ill-disciplined team since the puck dropped at the start of the 2021 season. Their penalty kill has been bailing them out all year long with an impressive 86% efficiency.

Meanwhile, the Islanders have been one of the least penalized teams on the year. So what we saw from both teams in the regular season continued in the playoffs. Except for that excellent Bruins penalty kill.

The Bruins PK in the series was an abysmal 62.5%. The only thing that changed in this series was the Bruins ability to prevent a power-play goal. It wasn’t a biased officiating crew, or the Islanders batting their eyelashes at the refs to get out of trouble.

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