Thomas Greiss, Islanders blank Bruins

BOSTON -- Thomas Greiss made 32 saves for his first shutout of the season and Nikolay Kulemin scored twice during a three-goal second period to help the New York Islanders defeat the Boston Bruins 4-0 at TD Garden on Monday.
It was the first road shutout for the Islanders against the Bruins in 81 games.

Greiss, who allowed a career-high seven goals on 43 shots before getting pulled in the third period against the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday, has five NHL shutouts. He defeated the Bruins for the second time in as many games this season (4-2 on Dec. 20) and has 80 saves on 82 shots in the two games.
WATCH: All Islanders vs. Bruins highlights
"So far it's treating me pretty well, fun games," Greiss said about the matchup with Boston. "But they are a good team. You've always got to respect them. They always come at you pretty hard."
Josh Bailey and Jason Chimera also scored for the Islanders (17-17-8), who are 6-9-4 on the road with two wins in Boston.
Casey Cizikas had two assists for the Islanders.
"It was a complete effort from our guys. ... I thought our guys played really well, we had good structure to our game," Islanders coach Jack Capuano said. "And I thought we had a lot of energy. ... We played with a little bit of an attitude, a little bit of swagger."

Tuukka Rask allowed three goals on 15 shots before he was pulled to the start the third period for the Bruins (23-19-5). It was the second time this season he was pulled against the Islanders.
Zane McIntyre made 11 saves in relief, but the Bruins were shut out for the fourth time this season.
"I don't know if we just wanted to hit simulate on [an] old video game today because we figured we had more points than them, it was just going to come or what," Bruins forward David Backes said. "But the result was certainly not something we were looking for when we just established ourselves back to .500 at home and wanted to make this a tough place for anyone to come into. We just didn't bring it tonight and that's unacceptable on all of our parts."
The Bruins are 10-11-0 at home.
The Islanders scored their first three goals during a span of 5:20 in the second period. Kulemin scored from the slot at 13:18 to give New York a 1-0 lead. Bailey beat Rask from the bottom of the right circle with a wrist shot that went under Rask at 15:00 for a 2-0 lead. Kulemin made it 3-0 at 18:38.
Chimera extended his scoring streak to three games with a shorthanded goal at 12:00 third for a 4-0 lead.

Goal of the game

Chimera poke-checked the puck away from Brad Marchand at the New York blue line and had a shorthanded breakaway before he beat McIntyre with a forehand shot.

Save of the game

Greiss preserved the shutout with a pad save on Patrice Bergeron's one-timer from the high slot with 8:28 remaining in the third.

Highlight of the game

Cizikas was stopped by Rask on a breakaway but tracked his own rebound below the goal line and found Kulemin, whose one-timer from the left hash mark got past Rask.

Unsung performance of the game

Pelech earned the secondary assist on Bailey's goal but the defenseman's hand-eye coordination to keep in Zdeno Chara's elevated pass up the wall started the scoring sequence.

They said it

"Yesterday he said he felt really good, and he's an honest kid. If he was tired, he would say it. But he said he wanted to get right back in there, he said he was mentally focused and he was ready to go. So that's what we do." -- Islanders coach Jack Capuano on the decision to give Greiss his seventh straight start after allowing seven goals on Saturday
"Well there's two things that can happen. No. 1, you hope you can spark your team because of the performance in front of him. And if it doesn't spark your team, you're not wasting your No. 1 goaltender's energy." -- Bruins coach Claude Julien on the decision to pull goaltender Tuukka Rask at the start of the third period

Need to know

Kulemin, who has scored three of his seven goals this season against the Bruins, has seven two-goal games in his NHL career. ... Islanders forwards Andrew Ladd and Cal Clutterbuck were scratched because of minor injuries. ... Bruins defenseman Kevan Miller missed his first game since sustaining a concussion Thursday.

What's next

Islanders: Host the Dallas Stars on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; MSG+, FS-SW+, NHL.TV)
Bruins: At the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, TVA Sports, NHL.TV)