BOSTON — Coming off a disappointing loss, Boston Coach Claude Julien felt his team would play better Saturday. And Julien got exactly what he was looking for from his Bruins.
David Pastrnak scored two goals and Tuukka Rask made 25 saves, leading Boston to a 3-1 victory against the New York Islanders.
UP NEXT
WHO: Boston Bruins at San Jose Sharks
WHEN: 10 p.m. Tuesday
TELEVISION: NESN
The Bruins were coming off a 3-2 overtime loss Thursday night to Carolina, and Julien said right afterward that he thought his team would play much better against the Islanders, another team jockeying for position in the Eastern Conference. The Bruins, the Atlantic Division leaders, responded with their fifth win in seven games.
“We knew we were going to get a pretty hungry Islanders team and we were going to get the best of them,” Julien said, “so it was important for us to be on top of our game right from the drop of the puck.”
Loui Eriksson added a goal and two assists for the Bruins, who have won their last five games against the Islanders.
Pastrnak’s point-blank wrist shot beat Thomas Greiss for a 2-1 lead with 8.9 seconds left in the second period. He slid his 12th goal of the season under Greiss with 2:34 remaining in the third.
Each of the Bruins’ three goals occurred in the final three minutes of a period.
“(It’s always good) to help our line get a chance in the end (of periods),” Pastrnak said. “I think we had a pretty good game; you know we had a lot of opportunities to score even before.”
John Tavares of New York scored his 200th career goal, becoming the 11th player in franchise history to reach the mark.
“I didn’t really have any idea until maybe a couple days ago, found out I was one away,” Tavares said. “So, you know, it’s 200, and hopefully I can get another couple hundred.”
Greiss stopped 28 shots in his first regulation loss this season after entering with a 7-0-2 record. Greiss filled in for Jaroslav Halak, who is expected to miss at least six weeks with a lower-body injury.
Eriksson dragged a puck around Greiss for a power-play goal late in the first. It was Eriksson’s 26th of the season.
New York pulled even on Tavares’ backhand goal midway through the second period. He also has 26 goals this season.
The Islanders outshot the Bruins 9-6 in the final period.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.