ELMONT, NY — Exhausted enough already from spending over a week on the road, the Boston Bruins had one more bit of business to attend to on Wednesday night before returning home.
Making one final stop on their four-game trip that began eight days ago in Anaheim, the weary Bruins weathered the New York Islanders at UBS Arena and walked out with a 3-1 win.
“We came into the trip wanting to at least be .500 on it,” Tanner Jeannot said. “It felt like we left some points in California in a couple of those games, so we knew we wanted to come out, play this game really hard and finish off the road trip. The boys battled hard tonight, and we got the two points. It wasn’t pretty all the time, but we battled, and we got it done. Now we can have a good Thanksgiving tomorrow.”
Outshot 45-15, the Bruins leaned heavily on Jeremy Swayman, as he made 44 saves to set a new career single-game high.
“Just one shot at a time,” said Swayman. “I was just blown away by the effort that I had in front of me all night, and it was a motivator, for sure. I was just doing whatever I could to stop the puck. They blew me away. I’m really, really proud of this group today.”
The only shot the Islanders put past Swayman came at 4:41 of the first period.
Skating over center ice, Matej Blumel attempted to flip the puck into the attacking zone. Instead, he handed it directly to Islanders defenseman Matthew Schaefer.
As the Bruins scrambled back into their own end, they forgot to cover Mathew Barzal down low, leaving him wide-open to undress Swayman for the night’s opening goal.
Alex Steeves answered back for Boston minutes later. After helping win a battle in the corner, Steeves rotated to the front of the net and put home a puck that was loose in front of Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin for his second goal of the season.
Alex Steeves seems to be embracing his new role on the fourth line. His second of the season draws the Bruins back even.pic.twitter.com/8qZWNA5cod
— Andrew Fantucchio (@A_Fantucchio) November 27, 2025
“Those kinds of bounce back goals you got to have, because otherwise it’s going to be a long night, just mentally, too,” Bruins coach Marco Sturm said. “It was a good bounce back. Was it our best game? No, but we’ll definitely take it.”
Jeannot put Boston ahead just 43 seconds into the middle period with his third goal of the season, ripping a shot from the bottom of the right circle into the top corner of the net.
The Bruins sat on their lead from that point on, hunkering down in their own and leaving the Islanders frustrated by keeping them limited to chances from the periphery.
“We’re a good team when we play structurally, so that was the goal today–out structure them, out battle them at the net front, and we did,” Nikita Zadorov said. “We score a couple of big goals, and that was the difference in the game.”
New York had the opportunity to draw itself even midway through the third period while on the man-advantage. However, the power play has been far from potent for the Isles season, and continued to be once again, as the Bruins successfully killed off all four shorthanded situations they faced.
They used the final of which to add to their advantage, as Fraser Minten set up Steeves off an odd-man rush for his second goal of the evening with 9:39 left to play.
“I’m not thinking I’m David Pastrnak or anything all of a sudden, but it definitely gives me confidence,” said Steeves of his performance. “It feels good to get rewarded on an individual level, but it feels even better to feel like I helped contribute to a really big win.”
At the conclusion of their road trip, the Bruins return home with a record 14-11-0. They will host the New York Rangers Friday afternoon at TD Garden.
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