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Bruins surge on road to top Islanders

*Photo from CBS News*
   There's a reason why no team is better than the Beantown gang. Charlie McAvoy had a goal and an assist, Brad Marchand scored, and the Boston Bruins defeated the New York Islanders with a 4-1 victory on Wednesday night on Long Island.

   With the win, the Bruins improved to 35-5-4 on the season, the only 30 win team in the NHL. Additionally, they've won 3 games in a row, are 8-1-1 in their last 10, and are 7-1-0 since the calendar turned to 2023. They did so thanks to 4 unanswered goals this time around.

   Asked about the game, Marchand said that "We’re resilient, we’re able to find another level. We have experience. The older guys know how to play."

   Zach Parise got the scoring started, giving the Islanders a 1-0 lead at the 15:41 mark of the first period, with Sebastian Aho and Jean-Gabriel Pageau assisting. 7:48 into the second period, it was McAvoy's turn, scoring his 3rd goal of the season to tie the game 1-1, with Charlie Coyle and Matt Grzelcyk getting assists.

   Not too long after McAvoy, Derek Forbort found the back of the net, scoring his 3rd goal of the season to put the Bruins ahead by a 2-1 score. Marchand scored on a power play 5:03 into the 3rd period to make it a 3-1 game, with Trent Frederic scoring his 10th goal of the season 10 minutes later, making the final score 4-1 for the Bruins.

   McAvoy gave his thoughts on the game, saying that "It was very nice to score in front of my family. It was an important goal for us, got us back into it. We were able to take over from there. Linus has been exceptional all season, he gives us a chance to win every night."

   It was indeed Linus Ullmark who started in goal for the Bruins, getting the win to improve to 24-2-1 on the season. Ullmark had another fantastic game, stopping 25 of the 26 shots the Islanders sent at him, good for a .962 save percentage.

   Starting opposite Ullmark was New York's Semyon Varlamov, who couldn't withstand the Bruins attack. Varlamov turned away 20 out of the 24 shots on goal the Bruins had, mustering a .833 save percentage as his record dropped to 8-5-1.

   New York forward Brock Nelson said after the game that "It’s easy to say you can’t get discouraged, but frustration is for sure high. You just have to keep going, keep shooting. I’ve had looks where you’d like to have a different result."

   Both teams hit the road to finish back to backs on Thursday night. Jeremy Swayman will start in goal for the Bruins as they take on the New York Rangers, while Ilya Sorokin starts for the Islanders against the Buffalo Sabres.

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