While the Boston Bruins' form has been indifferent as of late, one thing has remained constant: they don't have the ability to win ugly.

That point was further proven in the team's 2-1 defeat to the New York Islanders last Thursday night at the T.D. Garden.

"We ran out of gas," said coach Claude Julien. "Third game in four nights. The effort and will was there. [The Islanders] did a great job. They were obviously a little fresher than we were. They did a great job of closing in on us and not giving us much. Even when we did penetrate the offensive zone in the third, we didn't spend much time there."

The opening stages of the game proved to be relatively uneventful, as the teams traded a few shots in the first five minutes. Right wing Jaromir Jagr was passed the puck by center David Krejci, but ultimately lost control at the vital moment.
Seconds later, fracas emerged. After a series of shots were fired on Islanders goalkeeper Evgeni Nabokov, one of them appeared to cross the line. However, the officials decided that the puck did not cross the line, but had hit Nabokov's left post.

The scrappy nature of the game continued, and Islanders center John Tavares had his team's best chance of the night with seven minutes left in the first period). However, New York's star player fired a shot narrowly above Bruins goalkeeper Tuukka Rask's net to keep the game scoreless. Bruins defenseman Dennis Seidenberg was the next to try his luck with a long-range slapshot, which barely troubled Nabokov.

Just as it appeared that the first period would end 0-0, the Islanders broke the tie. With 20.5 seconds left, center Josh Bailey fired a shot past Rask and into the top right corner. Suddenly, the game was on its head.

A scramble just moments into the second period had the potential to yield a second goal for the Islanders. Fortunately, Rask and a last-ditch clearance from forward Milan Lucic saved the potential goal.

It didn't take long for the home team to find the equalizer, though. Center Gregory Campbell fed the puck across the face of goal to right wing Tyler Seguin, who made no mistake slamming into the roof of Nabokov's net to level things up at 1-1 just three minutes, 41 seconds into the period.

Campbell then went close to scoring himself, but he fired just wide of the gaping net.

With the Islanders pressing forward, Rask then made a miraculous double-save from left wing Matt Moulson. After saving Moulson's initial shot, Rask sprawled on the ice to keep out the New York man's rebound.

Boasting a three-shot advantage-24-21-the Islanders took the lead shortly thereafter. Bailey found himself on a breakaway, and though the Boston goalie got a pad to the shot, the puck took a freak bounce and made its way into the net.

With a few minutes left in the period, center Chris Kelly was then inches away from feeding the Bruins a lifeline. However, he could only touch the shot onto the post.

Rask then kept the Bruins in the game with 1:44 left in the period, making a series of stunning saves from a scramble. Yet, the news didn't get any better for Boston, and they went into the end of the second period just as they had the end of the first: down one goal.

Despite consistent pressure from the home side, there was no third period equalizer. As a result, the clock ran out 2-1 in favor of the Islanders.

Things didn't get any better on Saturday for the Bruins, as the host Carolina Hurricanes beat them 4-2 at the PNC Arena.
The Bruins won't have time to sulk in the wake of defeat, though, as they play home games tomorrow at 7 p.m. against the Buffalo Sabres, Friday at 7 p.m. against the Pittsburgh Penguins and Sunday at 12:30 p.m. against the Florida Panthers.