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Rask, Bruins down Islanders

Jan 30, 2015 - 5:36 AM Uniondale, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - Tuukka Rask made 43 saves, Milan Lucic and Reilly Smith tallied three points each and the Boston Bruins beat the New York Islanders 5-2 on Thursday.

Lucic and Smith each had a goal and two assists to help Boston win for the seventh time in its last nine games. Patrice Bergeron, Kevan Miller and Torey Krug also scored for the Bruins.

The Islanders got goals from John Tavares and Michael Grabner but had a two- game winning streak snapped. Jaroslav Halak allowed four goals on 32 shots.

With just 3.4 seconds to go in the second period, Halak made a crucial mistake handling the puck. Miller knocked down Halak's weak clearing attempt at the blue line, and he wasted no time ripping a shot on goal that beat Halak to break a 2-2 tie.

"We didn't play a 60-minute game, but I thought we played well enough to win the game," said Islanders coach Jack Capuano. "Obviously, the third goal was the turning point."

Boston did not even need two minutes in the third period to extend its lead to two. With traffic in front of the net, Krug's wrister from the blue line found its way to the back of the net for his 10th goal of the season.

Rask stopped all 14 third-period shots from the Islanders, and Lucic's 10th goal of the season on an empty net sealed the win.

"In the third period, we found that game again that was so good for us in the first," said Bruins coach Claude Julien.

The Islanders controlled play early, but the Bruins lit the lamp first. Smith drove to the net, and Lucic's pass from the boards went between a defender's legs to Smith's stick where he redirected the puck past Halak.

Just two minutes later, Boston got its first power play of the game and cashed in. Bergeron skated down from the blue line with the puck and used nifty puck-handling to create a shooting lane before wristing a shot off the post and into the net.

It took a tremendous individual effort from Tavares to finally beat Rask in the second period. From center ice, Tavares chipped the puck in the air toward Rask, and the goalie could not handle it cleanly. Tavares skated through the defense and backhanded the puck in for New York's first goal of the game.

Grabner's fifth goal of the season tied the game later in the period. Johnny Boychuk held a clearing attempt in the zone, and Grabner deflected Boychuk's wrist shot past Rask.

Game Notes

Tavares has scored in four straight games and has four goals and five assists in a five-game point streak ... Boychuk's assist was his 100th NHL point ... Islanders defenseman Nick Leddy played in his 300th consecutive game ... New York's Frans Nielsen lost his five-game point streak ... Each team has won a game on the road in the season series which concludes on Feb. 7.