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Bruins Snap Isles' 4-Game Winning Streak, 6-3

UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) -- Thanks to Tuukka Rask and some balanced scoring, the Boston Bruins got their six-game road trip off to a roaring start.

Rask stopped 34 shots and six Bruins scored as Boston snapped a three-game losing streak with a 6-3 victory against the New York Islanders on Thursday night.

Blake Wheeler, Mark Recchi, Gregory Campbell, David Krejci, Tyler Seguin and Milan Lucic scored for the Bruins, who began a winding trek that includes two games at Ottawa and three in Western Canada.

"Good way to start the road trip. We worked hard for these two points," Boston coach Claude Julien said.

New York's four-game winning streak came to a halt. John Tavares scored twice to give him 23 goals on the season and Josh Bailey also had a goal for the Islanders. Rookie Michael Grabner had his six-game goal streak snapped.

Nathan Lawson started in net for the Islanders and stopped 13 of 18 shots before Al Montoya came off the bench to finish with 15 saves.

"They were desperate and we gave them too much," Montoya said.

Against the Islanders, the first period belonged to Boston. The Bruins outshot New York 15-4 and took a 3-0 lead.

Wheeler picked up his ninth goal 1:52 into the game on a sharp-angle shot.

The Bruins struck again at 7:03 when the puck deflected in off Recchi's skate and the goal withstood a review. It was Recchi's 574th goal, moving him into 19th place on the NHL's career list.

Campbell's point shot went in off an Islanders player at 9:04 to make it 3-0.

"In the first period we were very good," Lucic said. "It was a great way to start the road trip."

Islanders center Zenon Konopka thinks there's an explanation for the team's slow starts recently.

"I think it's because we have a lot of young people here and as the season goes on it gets tougher," he said. "We can't afford to take a shift off."

The Bruins' dominance continued in the second as Krejci scored on wrist shot 55 seconds in.

Tavares got New York on the board 55 seconds later, wristing a shot past Rask.

Seguin rebuilt the four-goal lead, putting the puck into an open net at 2:48. That ended Lawson's night.

Bailey made it 5-2 on a quick wrister at 5:36, but Lucic connected on a rebound for a power-play goal at 7:17.

"We knew that they weren't going to quit," Lucic said.

Tavares scored again at 12:57 of the final period.

"Expect for the first period we played a good game," New York coach Jack Capuano said. "We had to get back to basics in the second and third and in those two periods we did a lot of good things."

NOTES: The Islanders agreed to a one-year contract extension with RW P.A. Parenteau. The 27-year-old Parenteau has 35 points (14 goals, 21 assists) this season. ... The Islanders entered the game 11 points out of a playoff spot. ... Boston, which began the night tied with Montreal atop the Northeast Division, improved to 17-7-4 on the road.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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