“I was a little frustrated, but not too crazy,’’ Rask said. “I knew it would come. But we were playing badly as a team early in the season.’’
The Bruins have three in a row for the first time this season, scoring 18 goals in victories over Ottawa, Toronto and the Islanders. David Krejci, who had a hat trick in the 7-0 win over the Maple Leafs on Saturday, had a goal and two assists against New York — giving him back-to-back three-point games after going scoreless in his previous six.
“I think the past few games is the way we’re supposed to play, and it shows in the outcome,’’ forward Patrice Bergeron said. “When we’re feeling good, playing well, we don’t want to stop.’’
Evgeni Nabokov allowed three goals on 12 shots before he was pulled just 12:40 into the game. Al Montoya went the rest of the way and made 21 saves for the Islanders.
The Bruins scored a pair of goals 29 seconds apart in the first period to make it 3-1, and then had another pair just 49 seconds apart in the third to take a 5-2 lead. New York pulled the goalie with 4:02 left, and Krejci scored an empty-netter with 2:48 to play.
“We just made a couple of mistakes you can’t make against a good team,’’ former Bruin Brian Rolston said. “And we paid for it.’’
It was the third straight strong offensive performance by Boston, which beat Ottawa 5-3 on Tuesday. For the Islanders, it was a seventh loss in eight game and a 13th loss in their last 17 games against the Bruins.
“We just had some guys that didn’t show up tonight. I’m not going to name any names,’’ coach Jack Capuano said. “We had a couple of lines that played well. Pandolfo hit a post. We had a couple of lines but not enough to sustain it against a team like that.’’
The Bruins took the lead just 92 seconds into the game when Jordan Caron’s forechecking forced a turnover in the Islanders’ zone and he got the puck over to Benoit Pouliot. But the Islanders tied it when Steve Staios’ slapshot from the point was deflected into the net by Matt Moulson.
That’s when Boston broke it open.
