UNIONDALE, N.Y. — Tuukka Rask dominated at one end of the ice and his teammates controlled the opposite side, helping the Boston Bruins play a near-perfect game on the road to earn their fourth straight win.
Brad Marchand scored the go-ahead goal in the second period and the Bruins continued their dominance of the Islanders with a 4-1 victory Tuesday night – Boston’s 16th victory in its last 20 games against New York.
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Adam McQuaid, David Krejci and Greg Campbell also scored for the Bruins (12-2-2), who bolstered their best start since the 1976-77 season. All four victories during the streak have come on the road, where the Bruins are 8-1-1.
“This was a great win but I think we can still play better,” said Rask, who made 36 saves for the surging Bruins. “We knew the Islanders have talented forwards so we had to be on our toes. We did a solid job as a team.”
Casey Cizikas scored for the Islanders, who are a league-worst 2-8 at home.
The Bruins came out flying, punishing the Islanders along the boards at both ends of the ice and not relenting for 60 minutes. Boston is 16-3-1 in its last 20 games against the Islanders, who remain in the basement of the Atlantic Division.
“This was a great road game,” said Bruins center Patrice Bergeron, who added two assists. “We never stopped working and we were fortunate to have a couple of bounces go our way.”
The bruising defenseman McQuaid started the scoring at 6:43 of the first with his first goal of the season, a shot from the right point that squirted through the pads of Islanders goalie Evgeni Nabokov.
Center Tyler Seguin skated out of traffic in the left circle to make the pass to McQuaid. The assist was the 100th point of the 21-year-old Seguin’s career. The second overall pick of the 2010 draft is on five-game points streak with a goal and four assists.
Cizikas tied the score at 15:49 of the first when he jammed a rebound past Rask. Josh Bailey raced down the right side and swooped in front of Rask, backhanding a shot toward the goalie. Cizikas tapped in the loose puck for his second goal of the season.
Marchand put Boston up 2-1 with his team-leading 10th goal of the season 38 seconds into the middle period when he backhanded a rebound past Nabokov. Bergeron assisted on Boston’s first two goals.
Krejci made it 3-1 with a perfect one-timer from the left circle off a backhand pass from Milan Lucic at 5:16 of the second period, and Campbell scored into an empty net at 18:55 of the third for his second of the season.
“We’ve gotten solid goaltending or timely scoring or great defensive plays,” Bruins Coach Claude Julien said. “All of that gives us the stability a good team needs.”
Rask is 6-0-1 in his last seven games, a stretch in which he has not surrendered more than two goals in regulation.
“I’m feeling very comfortable,” Rask said. “And my teammates have been great in front of me. The key for us is to keep this going when we get home.”
COMING UP
THURSDAY: Ottawa Senators at Bruins, 7 p.m. (NESN)
SATURDAY: Tampa Bay Lightning at Bruins, 1 p.m. (NESN)
SUNDAY: Montreal Canadiens at Bruins, 7:30 p.m. (NBCSN)
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