Happy Thanksgiving, Islanders Country 🦃
On this Thanksgiving Day, let me offer one simple blessing: I’m thankful the New York Islanders won’t have to see the Boston Bruins again this season. Not because Boston is a juggernaut. Not because the Isles are somehow miles behind. No, it’s because some years, some matchups, some teams have your number. And the Bruins? They’ve carved the Islanders up this season.
For years, Boston punished the Islanders because they were better. This year? It’s been something much more maddening - the Bruins winning games they had no business winning, and the Islanders losing games they had no business losing. And Wednesday night at UBS Arena fit the season-long script.
It was a sellout crowd, buzzing with holiday spirit and Mathew Barzal bobbleheads, and Barzal wasted no time giving the people a memory — a highlight-reel goal that had fans balancing a cardboard box in one hand and pumping a fist with the other. It felt like it was going to be one of those nights.
And then, of course, it became one of those other types of nights.
Boston tied it quickly, stole the air out of the building by scoring in the first minute of the second period, and then let Jeremy Swayman do the rest.
