Thomas Greiss makes 48 saves, Islanders defeat Bruins

BOSTON -- Thomas Greiss made an NHL career-high 48 saves, and Anders Lee scored two goals to help the New York Islanders end a five-game losing streak with a 4-2 win against the Boston Bruins at TD Garden on Tuesday.
"They were shooting pucks from everywhere," Greiss said. "You just go shot by shot, it keeps you in your rhythm. Special teams were huge tonight."
New York was 1-for-2 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.
Thomas Hickey and Nikolay Kulemin scored, and Josh Bailey had two assists for the Islanders (12-14-6), who were 0-4-1 in their previous five games and had lost five in a row against the Bruins.

Anton Blidh and Dominic Moore scored for the Bruins, who are 2-4-2 in their past eight games.
Boston (17-14-3) outshot New York 23-9 in the third period and got to within 3-2 after trailing 3-0, but Lee scored his second goal with 6:58 remaining to make it 4-2.
WATCH: All Islanders vs. Bruins highlights
Bruins coach Claude Julien was displeased with their start.
"What you saw in the third period, I don't know why we don't bring that in the first. We wait until we're in a hole and the desperation and I guess our work ethic and our compete level should be that at the first, not in the third when you're down 3-0," Julien said. "It's not good enough, and we know that we struggle to score goals. Let's be ready to play, and the way we gave up goals tonight, didn't look to me like we were ready to play."
Lee took advantage of some miscommunication by the Bruins to give the Islanders at 1-0 lead at 3:05 of the first period. Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask and forward Brad Marchand collided behind the Boston net, and Lee grabbed the loose puck and tucked it into the net.

Hickey extended the lead to 2-0 by scoring on a 3-on-1 at 5:40 of the first.
Kulemin scored at 6:18 of the second period to make it 3-0 after Rask misplayed a shoot-in off the end wall. Rask was relieved by Anton Khudobin after allowing three goals on 13 shots.
Blidh scored Boston's first goal at 3:04 of the third period, and Moore scored at 7:12 on a tip-in to make it 3-2.
Khudobin made 15 saves.

Goal of the game

Hickey beat Rask from the top of the right faceoff circle after skating end to end with the puck. The Islanders broke out of their own end after a pass from Lee to Bailey, who tipped the puck to Hickey at the New York blue line.

Save of the game

After the Bruins scored twice in the third period to get within 3-2, Greiss robbed David Krejci at 10:32. David Backes made a backhand pass from the slot to Krejci, who was driving to the net, but Greiss squeezed the puck between his pads.

Highlight of the game

It wasn't the snipe he'd like to tell his kids about someday, but Blidh scored his first NHL goal to get Boston's third-period rally going with a shot from the left corner. The puck deflected off Islanders defenseman Nick Leddy and past Greiss.

Unsung performance of the game

The Islanders, who lead the NHL in blocked shots (611), had 25 against the Bruins, led by defenseman Calvin de Haan's eight. His most important one came on a shot by Blidh at 9:36 of the third period with the Bruins trailing by one.

They said it

"I actually made some saves in the first period, so I'll take some positives out of it. The first one, there's nothing you can do about that. Second one, felt like all was square. Then, you know, to seal the deal and wish a Merry Christmas to the Islanders on the third one, and let's call it a night." -- Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask
"You don't see nights like this very often when you play a goaltender like [Tuukka Rask]. We were just able to get a couple in early and maybe get him off his game a little bit, and that's what you try to do every night, but when you're on the road and you need a win, that's nice to see." -- Islanders forward Anders Lee

Need to know

Lee got the second assist on Hickey's goal. The three-point game was his first since he had four points Feb. 14, 2015, against the Columbus Blue Jackets. ... Islanders defenseman Dennis Seidenberg, who played 401 regular-season games for the Bruins and was an integral part of their 2011 Stanley Cup championship team, played his first game against them since they bought out his contract June 30. Seidenberg was plus-2 in 19:02 of ice time. The Bruins honored Seidenberg with a video montage during the second timeout of the first period.

What's next

Islanders: Host the Buffalo Sabres on Friday (7 p.m. ET; MSG+, MSG-B, NHL.TV)
Bruins: At the Florida Panthers on Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET; FS-F, NESN, NHL.TV)