The Upshot: NY Islanders lose in shootout; drop a wild one to Bruins at UBS Arena

HOW IT HAPPENED

David Pastrnak scored the deciding goal in the shootout as the Boston Bruins (19-5-4) slipped past the New York Islanders 5-4 at UBS Arena on Friday Night. The Islanders led 2-0 in the second period on goals from Alexander Romanov and Simon Holmstrom, but a key Linus Ullmark save on Holmstrom led to a Morgan Geekie power-play goal to cut the deficit in half. Pastrnak's power play tied the game at two at 17:26 of the second period. In the third, Bo Horvat and Brock Nelson scored on the power-play goals for the Isles, but the Bruins answered each time as James van Riemsdyk converted on the power-play and Mason Lohrei banked a shot off Ilya Sorokin to tie the game with 3:09 remaining. Sorokin made 30 saves for the Islanders (14-7-8), who have points in eight straight games and 14 of their last 15. Ullmark had 33 saves in the win.

WHAT WENT RIGHT

The power play has been the best in the league over the last month. The Islanders have not only been scoring goals, but they've been scoring big goals at the opportune time, and that continued versus the Bruins. Bo Horvat and Brock Nelson each scored with man-advantage to give the Islanders 3-2 and 4-3 leads in the third period.

The Isles started the O.T. with a 4-on-3 power-play and oddly didn't showcase the same aggressiveness and movement that they had when playing 5-on-4.

WHAT WENT WRONG

The penalty kill had been better but was ranked 30th in the league heading into Friday night, and the Bruins, down Charlie McAvoy and Pavel Zacha, were still able to score three power-play goals on three opportunities. Julien Gauthier was called for a questionable penalty leading to the first goal and then the Isles were whistled for too many men on the ice when Anders Lee played the puck by the bench before Holmstrom was able to get all the way off.

The Islanders were the better team 5-on-5, and there was a lot of positives to take out of a game against the best team in the Eastern Conference, but playing without Adam Pelech, Ryan Pulock and Scott Mayfield, their penalty kill couldn't rise to the occasion the way their power play did.

STATS OF THE GAME

Per NHL PR, Bo Horvat had an assist on the 1-0 goal and extended his point streak to nine games, which matched his NHL career high (also 9 GP in 2022-23 w/ VAN). Mathew Barzal recorded his 56th career multi-assist game and tied Pat LaFontaine for 10th most in Islanders history.

Ilya Sorokin extended his home point streak to nine games. Only one Islanders goaltender has posted a run of as many games over the past 30 years: Semyon Varlamov (10 GP in 2020-21).

SOCIAL MEDIA MOMENT OF THE GAME

You have to give it to David Pastrnak. The Bruins star scored the most casual game-winning shootout goal you'll ever see, pulling the puck back and whipping past Ilya Sorokin for the win.

WHAT'S NEXT

It's a quick turnaround for the Islanders who fly to Montreal for a game against the Candiens on Saturday night. Face-off is at 7:00 PM EST.