Rask, Bruins defeat Islanders in shootout

BOSTON -- Ryan Donato scored in the fourth round of the shootout in his first NHL game since Oct. 30 to give the Boston Bruins a 2-1 win against the New York Islanders at TD Garden on Thursday.

Donato, who was called up from Providence of the American Hockey League on Wednesday, scored the only goal of the shootout on a backhand shot past goalie Robin Lehner after a deke to his forehand side. He's 2-for-2 in his NHL career in shootouts.
"A lot of guys were trying to go five-hole on him," said Donato, who had one goal in 11 games Boston before he had nine (five goals, four assists) in 10 games for Providence. "I just knew that he would hopefully bite on the first move, and I was lucky he did and got it past his right pad."
WATCH: [All Islanders vs. Bruins highlights\]
Tuukka Rask made 28 saves and then stopped all four Islanders in the shootout, and Brad Marchand scored for the Bruins (14-7-4), who have won four in a row at home and are 4-1-2 in their past seven games.
"I thought [Rask] got better as the game went along," Boston coach Bruce Cassidy said. "I thought none of us were sharp early. Not that we were bad, just we weren't executing to our standards, playing with the energy up to our standard. And eventually we get behind. But Tuukka was excellent. Overtime obviously is an issue for us in terms of what we give up, we're not managing pucks well, we're not reading rushes quick enough. And he made some huge saves."
Lehner made 35 saves, and Anders Lee scored for the Islanders (12-9-3), who have lost two in a row and four of their past six games.

"I'd take this game probably almost every night, and you're there," New York coach Barry Trotz said. "It's a big point, you never know if the point you get on the road or wherever, that may be the one that gets you to the promised land. So we'll take any points on the road we can get here."
Lee gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead during a delayed penalty at 12:17 of the first period when he flipped in a pass from Mathew Barzal from the right side of the slot.
Marchand scored a power-play goal to tie it 1-1 at 12:09 of the second period.
The Islanders thought they won the game at 1:13 of overtime when Barzal scored on the rebound after Rask made the save on Anthony Beauvillier driving to the net. But Beauvillier fell into Rask, and the goal was waved off because of goaltender interference, a call that was upheld by the Situation Room following video review.
"I looked at it. You can't do anything about it," Trotz said. "I felt that their player who was sliding knocked [Beauvillier] into the net and therefore that should be a loose puck. You know those are looked at in the overtime, I didn't know about the call on the ice. I thought they really hesitated on that, and then once they called no goal, it sort of trumps everything. So I didn't like the hesitation on that."
The Islanders had several more chances to win the game but were denied by Rask. Jordan Eberle couldn't get his wrist shot from the slot through Rask's five-hole, and then Barzal had an attempt from the top of the crease and a wrist shot from the perimeter saved by Rask.
New York outshot Boston 6-2 in overtime.

They said it

"I mean, [Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask] is one of the best in the League, so he made a couple big saves in overtime and the shootout too. But [Islanders goaltender Robin Lehner] stood right in there too. I mean he made some huge stops for us. Credit goes to him for keeping us in that game. But yeah, [Rask] made some nice saves in key moments, so he's a good goalie."-- Islanders forward Mathew Barzal
"It was big. You want to make sure you have an immediate impact on the game, show the coaches and the staff that you developed in your time [in the AHL]. I tried to do that to the best of my abilities, and hopefully I proved that to them today." -- Bruins forward Ryan Donato on his return to the NHL after 10 games with Providence

Need to know

The night began with the Bruins retiring No. 16 for Rick Middleton, who had 898 points (402 goals, 496 assists) in 881 games for Boston from 1976-88. ... Islanders forward Valtteri Filppula played his 900th NHL game. ... Bruins defenseman Torey Krug has five assists during a four-game point streak.

What's next

Islanders: Host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday (Nassau Coliseum; 7 p.m. ET; MSG+, FS-O, NHL.TV)
Bruins: Host the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; NESN, FS-D+, NHL.TV)