The Islanders suddenly can’t score at home. Or on the power play.
Even worse, Alex Steeves’ shorthanded goal helped clinch the Bruins’ 3-1 win on Wednesday night in front of a third straight sell-out crowd of 17,255 at UBS Arena.
The Islanders (13-9-2) are 1-2-0 on this seven-game homestand and have scored just two goals. They are 2-8-1 when outshooting their opponent.
Jeremy Swayman made 41 saves for the Bruins (14-11-0), who swept all three games from the Islanders. Ilya Sorokin made 13 saves.
The Islanders went 0-for-4 on the power play with four shots, deepening their rut to 0-for-27 dating to the second period of a 4-3 overtime win in Las Vegas on Nov. 13.
Mathew Barzal, on his bobblehead night, opened the scoring at 4:41 of the first period with a highlight-reel stickhandling move to get to the left post as he deked out Swayman. But Steeves, establishing position behind defenseman Adam Boqvist at the crease, tied it 92 seconds later. His shorthanded goal off an odd-man rush made it 3-1 at 10:21 of the third period.
Tanner Jeannot’s rising wrist shot from the right circle 43 seconds into the second period had made it 2-1. The Islanders later held the Bruins without a shot for a stretch of 10 minutes, 49 seconds in the period. Then the Islanders had a 20-3 shot advantage in the third period to no effect.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.