Three days of rest, recovery and practice yielded a rust-filled horrendous first period from which the Islanders could not recover.
The Bruins beat the Islanders for the first time in six tries, 4-1, on Thursday night as the Islanders opened a three-game road trip, including another game in Boston on Friday night.
The Islanders (27-12-4), who remained two points behind the first-place Capitals in the East Division, had not played since concluding a 5-1-0 homestand with a 3-2 overtime win over the Rangers on Sunday night at Nassau Coliseum.
Semyon Varlamov, the only reason the game remained close as he made a season-high 41 saves, entered the game 5-0-0 against the Bruins with one shutout, a 1.57 goals-against average and a .949 save percentage.
Tuukka Rask, who stopped 22 shots, had missed 17 of the last 18 games with an upper-body injury and, in his only appearance in that stretch, he lasted just the first period in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Islanders at Nassau Coliseum on March 25 before re-aggravating the issue.
The Islanders’ last, best chance to steal some points instead turned into the clinching goal for the Bruins.
Jordan Eberle put a two-on-one feed on Mathew Barzal’s stick going to the right post. But Barzal shot the puck wide, defenseman Ryan Pulock couldn’t keep the puck in at the blue line and Taylor Hall made it 3-1 at 1:52 of the third period with his first goal as a Bruin, beating Varlamov through the pads on a rush after the goalie tried to poke the puck away.
The Islanders thought the extended time off between games, which included two days of practice with ample time spent on power-play work, would be a benefit.
"It’s just nice to get a mental rest," Eberle said before the game. "To have that little break there in between and really coming down to the stretch of the last 14 games and into playoffs, you feel rejuvenated a little bit."
That was certainly more of the case after the brutal first period.
Travis Zajac scored his first goal for the Islanders in his fourth game since being acquired along with Kyle Palmieri from the Devils, cutting the Bruins lead to 2-1 at 2:56 of the second period. Barzal, with a spinning feed from behind the crease, found Zajac open off the left post.
Varlamov kept it at a one-goal deficit, stopping David Krejci’s one-timer coming out of the penalty box on a two-on-one rush at 12:04 of the second period.
But the Islanders wound up playing one forward short after Josh Bailey exited at 8:06 of the second period. Cal Clutterbuck missed some of the third period after being shouldered into the wall by defenseman Charlie McAvoy at 7:57.
The first period turned awful for the Islanders right off the opening faceoff as the Bruins’ fourth line hemmed Casey Cizikas’ trio with Clutterbuck and Matt Martin in the defensive zone.
And the Islanders never gained momentum, getting outshot, 23-7 — the most shots they’ve allowed in a period under coach Barry Trotz — and outchanced 33-11 as the Bruins spent a combined six minutes, 10 seconds out of the opening 20 minutes on the power play.
The Islanders were outworked, as well.
Brad Marchand, who also added an empty-net goal, gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead after a video review confirmed a deflected puck off his back went in just under the crossbar.
Brock Nelson’s four-minute high stick on defenseman Mike Reilly at 14:49 negated the Islanders’ first power play and led to Craig Smith’s power-play goal to make it 2-0 at 17:55.
