Jim Montgomery’s Bruins did what they do best Wednesday night on Long Island, as the Bruins scored four unanswered goals and pushed their win streak to three games with a 4-1 final over the Islanders.

With the win, the Bruins improved to 35-5-4 on the season, and became the second-fastest team to win 35 wins in NHL history. (It’s getting a little silly at this point, I gotta admit.)

For the Bruins, the victory came with goals from four different scorers, and served as the Black and Gold’s first road win against the Islanders since Feb. 29, 2020, with the Bruins entering Wednesday’s on a six-game slide in games played on Long Island (0-5-1).

Here are the 98.5 The Sports Hub (dot com) 3 Stars of the game from a win over the Isles…

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• No. 3 Star: Charlie McAvoy

  

  Jan 18, 2023; Elmont, New York, USA; Boston Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy (73) celebrates his goal against the New York Islanders with teammates during the second period at UBS Arena. (Brad Penner/USA TODAY Sports)

• It was only fitting that the Bruins’ scoring in this contest was opened up by Charlie McAvoy.

  The hometown boy, the Long Beach-born McAvoy’s strike at the 7:48 mark of the middle frame was good for his third goal of the season, and his first since Nov. 23. It also marked the start of a four-goal barrage by the Bruins, with the Bruins riding McAvoy’s momentum-generating goal to the go-ahead goal less than four minutes later.

  All the way from Long Beach 🚀 pic.twitter.com/4vRA0DJTll

  — Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) January 19, 2023

  McAvoy added an assist in this game before his night was through, too, with the secondary helper on the Brad Marchand power-play goal that by all means put this game away in the third period of action.

  In addition to the goal and assist, McAvoy added two blocks and finished with 19:37 of time on ice.

• No. 2 Star: Linus Ullmark

  

  Jan 18, 2023; Elmont, New York, USA; Boston Bruins goaltender Linus Ullmark (35) makes a save against New York Islanders center Jean-Gabriel Pageau (44) during the second period at UBS Arena. (Brad Penner/USA TODAY Sports)

• Career win No. 100 required some heavy lifting for Bruins netminder Linus Ullmark.

  Absolutely under siege in the opening 20 minutes of action (it felt like way more than 10 shots, especially if you took in the quality of those shots and chances), Ullmark kept the deficit at just one as the Bruins entered the first intermission, and that proved to be huge.

  In fact, that first-period goal would be the only time Ullmark found himself beat on the evening, as he finished with saves on all but one of the 27 shots he faced by the night’s end.

  It was a big-time performance, too, as Natural Stat Trick had Ullmark credited with a 5-for-5 line on high-danger shots faced and had an expected goals average of 3.24.

• Lotta games to go, but best single-season SV% (min. 50 games)
  '10-11 Tim Thomas: .938
  '98-99 Dom Hasek: .937
  '21-22 Igor: .935
  '14-15 Carey Price: .933
  '08-09 Tim Thomas: .933 https://t.co/zSS2LA4D6D

  — Ty Anderson (@_TyAnderson) January 19, 2023

• There’s really not much more that needs to be said about Ullmark’s 2022-23 season.

  He’s clearly the frontrunner for the Vezina (if you’re voting with a brain), and barring an absolute meltdown, he has a legitimate chance of finishing with what could be a top-five single-season save percentage in the NHL history books. He’s also making a legitimate push for being the league’s first ‘Triple Crown’ winner since Carey Price in 2014-15.

• No. 1 Star: Derek Forbort

  

  Jan 18, 2023; Elmont, New York, USA; Boston Bruins defenseman Derek Forbort (28) celebrates his goal against the New York Islanders with teammates during the second period at UBS Arena. (Brad Penner/USA TODAY Sports)

• Listen, seeing B’s defenseman Derek Forbort activate himself towards the front of the opposition’s net alone is worth the price of admission. (Sidenote: Am I crazy or did that UBS Arena crowd sound depressed even before the Bruins took over this game? It was like a COVID-era game with the lack of… well… anything from ’em.)

  And Forbort’s activation led to the welcomed return of Derek Scorebort for the defense-first blue liner’s first goal since Dec. 13. Actually, ironically enough, two of Forbort’s three goals in 2022-23 have come against the Islanders. The Islanders truly cannot contain Scorebort.

• Scorebort from the doorstep. pic.twitter.com/ye3t9iRDhu

  — Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) January 19, 2023

• The Bruins will always be happy to see the 6-foot-4, 219-pound defender chip in offensively because that typically means everything is going really, really well, but Forbort stayed true to his roots and put forth an absolutely monstrous effort in the defensive zone in this victory.

  Deployed for a team-leading 22:10, Forbort led all Bruins with 6:48 of shorthanded time on ice (two full minutes more than the next-closest Bruin) for a Boston penalty kill that went a perfect 6-for-6 in the victory. Forbort also totaled three hits and three blocks during his penalty-killing play, and finished the night with four hits and six blocked shots in total by the night’s end.

  Forbort’s six-block performance made it the fifth performance of at least six blocks by a Bruins defenseman in 2022-23. It was Forbort’s second such effort this year (he had six blocks on Opening Night against the Capitals), and only Charlie McAvoy (twice) and Connor Clifton have matched that this season. Clifton’s nine blocks in the team’s Jan. 8 win over the Ducks remain the single-game high for a B’s skater this season.

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