Hopeful Isles get ‘swagger back’ in Boston
Start Second Half of Season with Uplifting 4-0 Blanking of Bruins
The Islanders are headed back to Downtown Brooklyn with some wind in their previously deflated sails.
Thomas Greiss stopped 32 shots for his first shutout of the season and Nikolay Kulemin tallied twice on Martin Luther King Day in Boston as New York rebounded from a deflating loss in Carolina Saturday by blanking the Bruins, 4-0, in front of 17,565 fans at TD Garden.
Greiss, who was victimized for a season-high seven goals during a brutal 7-4 defeat against the Hurricanes two nights earlier, made his seventh straight start in net since replacing the recently demoted Jaroslav Halak his best yet.
The 30-year-old German netminder not only helped the Islanders (17-17-8) climb back to .500, but gave them some momentum for what figures to be a critical six-game homestand, which kicks off at Barclays Center on Thursday night against the Dallas Stars.