Bruins 4, Islanders 1
UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- Brad Marchand and David Krejci scored less than five minutes apart early in the second period Tuesday night as the Boston Bruins remained red-hot on the road by beating the New York Islanders, 4-1, at Nassau Coliseum.
Adam McQuaid and Gregory Campbell also scored for the Bruins (12-2-2), who won the final four games of a season-high five-game, 12-day road trip to improve to 8-1-1 on the road overall. That's the best 10-game road start for the Bruins since the 1929-30 team opened 9-1-0.
The Islanders' misery at home, meanwhile, continued as they fell to 8-11-1 overall and an NHL-worst 2-8-0 at the Coliseum. The home start is the worst for the Islanders since they went 1-7-2 to begin the 1989-90 season.
Casey Cizikas scored for the Islanders, who are in the midst of a seven-game homestand.
The Islanders actually outshot the Bruins 37-34 but Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask made numerous impressive stops in a 36-save performance. In the second period, Rask -- who has allowed two goals or fewer in regulation in each of his last seven starts -- stopped a point-blank shot from Mark Streit and later turned back Matt Moulson's rebound of a Streit shot.
The two teams were tied 1-1 after the first period, but the Bruins wasted no time breaking the tie in the second, when Marchand backhanded home the rebound of Andrew Ference's slap shot just 38 seconds into the period.
The Bruins extended their lead to 3-1 at the 5:18 mark, when Krejci's blistering wrist shot from the left faceoff circle soared past Islanders goalie Evgeni Nabokov. The puck hit the net with such force it knocked Nabokov's water bottle off the top of the net.
Boston barely missed two chances to further widen the lead later in the period. Nabokov (30 saves) was staked along the right side of the crease during a Bruins flurry when an airborne puck floated towards the left corner of the net, but the Islanders' Travis Hamonic raced in, dove and batted the puck out of the goalmouth. Later, Dougie Hamilton's shot soared past Nabokov but landed just left of the net.
The Bruins dominated the early minutes of the first period and took a 1-0 lead on McQuaid's goal -- his first of the season -- 6:43 into the game. But the Islanders ended up outshooting the Bruins 11-10 in the first period and got the equalizer on a goal by Cizikas, who beat Rask with a point-blank goal after he was set up in nifty fashion by Josh Bailey, who passed back to Cizikas as he skated past the net.
NOTES: Because of the lockout-shortened season, the Islanders and Bruins will meet just twice this season, the fewest games between the clubs since the Islanders joined the NHL in 1972. The Bruins host the Islanders Apr. 11. ... This year marks the fifth time the Islanders had two wins or fewer in their first nine home games. Before the NHL instituted the shootout, the Islanders were 1-7-1 in 1972-83, 1-6-2 in 1989-90 and 2-6-1 in both 1995-96 and 1999-2000. The Islanders went 2-6-1 in 2008-09, the fourth year of the current overtime rules. ... The Bruins scratched wingers Lane MacDermid and Jay Pandolfo and defenseman Aaron Johnson while the Islanders scratched center Keith Aucoin, winger Eric Boulton and defenseman Joe Finley. ... The Bruins entered Tuesday a robust 11-2-2, but Daniel Paille's empty net goal to seal a 4-1 win over the Panthers on Sunday marked the first time all year Boston led a game by at least three goals.
