Hall scores first goal with Bruins in win against Islanders

BOSTON --Taylor Hall scored his first goal with the Boston Bruins, helping Tuukka Rask to his 300th NHL win, 4-1 against the New York Islanders at TD Garden on Thursday.

Hall, playing his second game with the Bruins after he was acquired in a trade with the Buffalo Sabres on Monday, gave Boston a 3-1 lead at 1:52 of the third period.
"I mean you always want to contribute," Hall said. "As an offensive guy, you don't come into every game hoping to score a goal, but you want to make plays, you want to create chances, and I thought tonight our line (with David Krejci, Craig Smith) did that. So it was nice to see one go in.
"But we have such a heavy schedule now, you've got to kind of drop games after their done and focus on the next one."
Rask returned from an upper-body injury and made 22 saves in his first start since March 25, and Brad Marchand scored two goals for the Bruins (23-12-6), who defeated the Islanders for the first time this season (1-3-2).
"Well I think I've been fortunate enough to play on a really good team throughout my career, so that helps a lot," Rask said. "We've had some great defenses throughout the years and [I'm] just happy to be part of that. Super grateful that I've been able to play so many years.
"But it's a great milestone. It's one of those that once you're done playing hockey and years after that, you think about your career and what you accomplished and it's probably going to be a nice memory."

Travis Zajac scored his first goal with the Islanders (27-12-4) after being acquired in a trade with the New Jersey Devils on April 7. Semyon Varlamov made 41 saves.
"This is a veteran group, so they know when something's not good enough," Zajac said. "I thought after the first, we were able to get our legs and get on the forecheck and turn some pucks over and make some plays. We started winning more battles and were able to get a few more chances."
The Bruins, who host the Islanders again Friday, remained four points ahead of the New York Rangers for fourth place in the eight-team MassMutual East Division.
The Islanders remained two points behind the Washington Capitals for first place in the East. The top four teams will qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
"They came out hard. That's really it. They came out flying," New York center Mathew Barzal said. "It's a big game. It was a big game for them. They're fighting for a spot, we're fighting for the top of the division right now. It's two good teams going at it and their compete level was higher than ours tonight."
Marchand scored his 20th goal of the season on a shot that deflected off his back at 1:59 of the first period to give Boston a 1-0 lead.
Smith made it 2-0 on the power play on a one-timer from the edge of the right circle at 17:55.
The Bruins outshot the Islanders 23-7 in the first period.
"You know it's unacceptable in terms of just, we came out slow," New York coach Barry Trotz said. "You know Boston's desperate, they know it's a big game and they were focused on us. They came out and set the tone and we've got some guys that didn't want to accept the challenge."

Zajac cut it to 2-1 off a pass from behind the net by Barzal at 2:56 of the second period.
Boston outshot New York 10-5 in the third, and Marchand scored an empty-net goal at 18:24 for the 4-1 final.
"A good, solid game. I thought we didn't let our foot off the gas, we were able to extend the lead," Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. "But I liked our game all around. We] really had no passengers tonight. That's always what you're looking for, everyone kind of helping the team win. I thought we got that tonight."
**NOTES:** Rask's NHL record is 300-162-66. … Marchand is the fourth player to have eight consecutive 20-goal seasons with the Bruins, joining
[Johnny Bucyk
(10),
Rick Middleton
(nine) and
Phil Esposito
(eight). … Islanders forward Josh Bailey left the game with an undisclosed injury in the second period. Trotz did not have an update.