Bruins And Islanders

The first round of the playoffs features the 4^th place Boston Bruins against the 5^th place New York Islanders.  The season series saw the two teams play 4 games.  The Bruins record in the 4 games was 2-2-0-0 while the Islanders record was 2-1-0-1.  The Bruins have struggled all season scoring goals, which was surprising with the caliber of offensive players that the roster boasts.  The Bruins were tied for 17^th overall in the league with 224 goals scored averaging 2.73 goals per game.  The Islanders were ranked 21^st with 217 goals scored and averaged 2.65 per game.  Defensively, these two teams were much better than they were offensively.  The Bruins allowed the 4^th least goals in the league by only allowing 196 (2.39 per game) and the Islanders were tied for 7^th in the league (2.48).  One of the contributing factors for the Bruins lack luster offense was their dismal power play.  The team had a success rate of 18.5%, which placed them at 28^th in the league, while the Islanders had a 24.1% placing them at 12^th in the league power play standings.  Both teams had very good success while short-handed.  The Bruins were ranked 4^th in the league while being a man down killing 81.8% of the penalties and the Islanders were right behind them ranked 5^th killing 81.5% of the their penalties.

Looking at the rosters of these two teams on paper, the Bruins clearly have the advantage and should make short work of the Islanders, however, looking at the stats provided above, the Islanders will definitely be able to hold their own and could definitely knock off the Bruins.  The Bruins really will need to get their offense and power play clicking to hope to dispatch the Islanders quickly and the Islanders will definitely require stellar play from the winningest goalie in the history of the NHL – Martin Brodeur – if they are to have a chance.  Luckily for Islanders fans, the game is not played on paper.

Lets Go Bruins!!!