Playing in Boston again certainly added to his excitement.
Greiss stopped 32 shots for his first shutout of the season – and the first by an Islanders’ goalie in a game in Boston – to lead New York past the Bruins 4-0 on Monday.
”If he was tired, he would say it,” New York coach Jack Capuano said of Greiss. ”But he said he wanted to get right back in there. He said he was mentally focused and ready to go.”
Nikolay Kulemin scored two of New York’s three second-period goals, and Josh Bailey and Jason Chimera also scored for the Islanders, who have lost 13 of 19 road games this season (6-9-4), but defeated the Bruins twice in TD Garden.
”So far it’s been treating me very well. Fun games,” said Greiss, who made 48 saves in a win in Boston over the Bruins in December.
On Saturday, he gave up seven goals on 43 shots before being pulled in a loss to Carolina.
”You always want to have a good game after that and respond and feel good about yourself again,” he said.
Chimera has scored in three consecutive games for New York, which entered the game with the fewest points in the Eastern Conference.
Boston starting goaltender Tuukka Rask was pulled after two periods. He gave up three goals on 15 shots. Backup Zane McIntyre gave up the other goal.
The Bruins left the ice following the final siren to a spattering of boos from the fans that were left in the stands.
”We let them down by our effort,” Boston captain Zdeno Chara said.
The Bruins lost at home against one of the league’s worst teams for the third time this season. On Dec. 8, Colorado came in with the league’s poorest record and beat Boston. The Islanders were also last in the East when they won 4-2 on Dec. 20.
”We felt we were ready to go, but we were flat,” Boston coach Claude Julien said.
After a scoreless and penalty-free opening period, the Islanders moved ahead 1-0 at 13:18 of the second. Kulemin took Casey Cizikas’ pass in front of the net and slipped a wrist shot past Rask.
They made it 2-0 less than 2 minutes later when Bailey took a seemingly harmless shot from the bottom of the right circle and the puck slipped between Rask’s left pad and the post. It snapped a 14-game goal-less stretch for the winger.
”I was just late. I picked the wrong seal,” Rask said. ”It’s one of those I obviously should have stopped.”
New York increased it to 3-0 late in the period. Rask stopped Cizikas on a clean breakaway, but the center collected his rebound and passed it to Kulemin in front where he fired a wrister by Rask at 18:38.
The Bruins left the ice to a spattering of boos after the second. After pulling Rask, Boston barely mustered any threat to score.
Chimera scored an unassisted short-handed goal on a breakaway.
Boston’s Brad Marchand hit the left post with a backhand a few seconds before Kulemin’s first goal.
NOTES: It was the Islanders’ 81st regular-season game in Boston. . Former Bruins defenseman Johnny Boychuk missed the previous game with an injury, but was back in action for the Islanders. … New York forwards Cal Clutterbuck and Andrew Ladd were both out with undisclosed injuries. … Boston D Colin Miller missed his third straight with a lower-body injury and D Kevan Miller was out with a concussion sustained on a hit that was called a major penalty for boarding on the Flyers’ Jakub Voracek on Saturday. … The game was the opener of a hockey/basketball doubleheader. The Celtics were set to face Charlotte on Monday night.
UP NEXT
Islanders: Host Dallas on Thursday in the first of a six-game homestand.
Bruins: At Detroit on Wednesday. They beat the Red Wings 1-0 in Detroit on Oct. 29 in the only other meeting this season.
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