Zacha Scores Twice in Third, Lifts Bruins Past Islanders

ELMONT, N.Y. -- Pavel Zacha scored two goals in the third period for the Boston Bruins, who pulled away for a 6-3 win against the New York Islanders at UBS Arena on Wednesday.

Brad Marchand also scored twice, and David Pastrnak had three assists for the Bruins (11-10-3), who were coming off a 2-0 loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday. Joonas Korpisalo made 21 saves.

“We showed signs last night that we had opportunities,” Boston interim head coach Joe Sacco said. “Tonight, what’s the difference? We just put the puck in the back of the net. I thought, actually, last night we played a tighter game defensively. We didn’t give up as much as we did tonight, but you’re going to have these games, especially when you are in a back-to-back situation. You have two teams that are desperate for points. It certainly wasn’t our cleanest game, but that’s hockey. Sometimes you find ways to win when you are not at your best, and that’s a good sign for our group."

Brock Nelson had two goals and an assist, and Maxim Tsyplakov had a goal and an assist for the Islanders (8-10-5), who have lost five of their past six games (1-4-1). Ilya Sorokin made 15 saves.

Zacha gave the Bruins a 4-3 lead at 10:48 of the third period when he redirected Andrew Peeke's shot from the right point past a screened Sorokin.

Zacha then made it 5-3 at 13:23. Pastrnak won a battle with Alexander Romanov below the goal line and passed out front to Zacha, who beat Sorokin over his glove with a backhand.

Nikita Zadorov scored his first goal of the season into an empty net at 17:58 for the 6-3 final.

“I think the mindset is just keep sticking with the process that we have and keep creating,” Zacha said. “I think if we have a lot of shots ... we had a little bit more net-front presence today, I think, and that's when the puck went in, and we just have to keep doing that more.”

Marchand gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead 57 seconds into the first period. Elias Lindholm won a face-off right to Marchand, who scored with a one-timer past Sorokin’s blocker from the edge of the left circle.

Marchand pushed it to 2-0 at 6:31. Justin Brazeau couldn't control a pass from Lindholm, but Marchand was able to skate into the loose puck and lift a shot past Sorokin, who had been bumped into by Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield.

“Especially with the back-to-back travel and coming in here -- it’s not an easy place to play -- getting some momentum, getting our feet under us [was important],” Marchand said. “Obviously, they got one shortly after, but we held the fort down and we were able to come out with a win. So, that was important for us.”

Tsyplakov cut the lead to 2-1 at 12:50 of the first. He took a pass from Nelson while cutting to the net and beat Korpisalo five-hole with a backhand.

Nelson tied it 2-2 at 8:52 of the second period. Bruins defenseman Mason Lohrei had the puck hop over his stick in the neutral zone, allowing Nelson to pick it up, skate in on the rush, and roof a shot over Korpisalo's glove from the right circle.

Morgan Geekie put the Bruins back in front 3-2 at 11:59, scoring into an open net from the bottom of the left circle off a pass from Zacha. The play started after Romanov hit Kyle Palmieri in the helmet on a clearing attempt.

Nelson tied it 3-3 with eight seconds remaining in the period, beating Korpisalo short side under his blocker from the left circle.

“Both teams make mistakes, you got to limit them,” Islanders defenseman Ryan Pulock said. “At times [we’re making] too many. When one happens, we need to find a way to come together and fix the problem. And right now, we are just not finding that.”

NOTES: Marchand scored his seventh career opening-minute goal to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead 57 seconds into the contest. The only players in franchise history with as many are Patrice Bergeron (10), Ray Bourque (9), Terry O'Reilly (7) and Phil Esposito (7)...Marchand later secured his 64th career multi-goal game to surpass Rick Middleton (63) for fifth most in franchise history and tie David Pastrnak for the fourth most...Pastrnak notched his 80th career multi-assist game in the win over the Isles to surpass Ales Hemsky (79) and Robert Lang (79) for the eighth most by a Czechia-born player...the three-assist night was also his 64th career three-point game, surpassing Ken Hodge (63) for seventh place in franchise history behind Esposito (140), Bourque (118), Bobby Orr (109), Johnny Bucyk (106), Middleton (87) and Marchand (65)...Zacha netted his 10th game-winning goal since joining the Bruins in 2022-23.The only Boston skaters with more in that span are Pastrnak (20) and Marchand (13).