BOSTON -- It took a while, but the Boston Bruins are finally over actual .500.

For the first time since they won the first game of the season.

Not NHL .500. Real .500.

Tuukka Rask turned aside 30 shots for his fourth straight win and the Bruins played a strong defensive game in a 3-1 victory over the New York Islanders on Saturday night -- Boston improving to 14-9-4 with its fourth win in five games.

"We played a great game," said Rask, who has allowed just four goals during his winning streak. "It started in the first period, we had our legs, we were skating, had a lot of jump, didn't give them anything."

Rask, who had been struggling to start the season, causing a bit of a goaltending controversy as Anton Khudobin ripped off four straight wins, is no longer struggling. But his team is playing better in front of him than it had been earlier.

"We're trying to build an identity I guess," he said. "You have to battle hard, you have to skate hard and from that I think you're going to build that identity and that reputation as a hard team to play against.

"I think we want to accomplish and we need to accomplish (that) in order to make the playoffs and be an elite team in the league and I think we are heading in that direction. Let's keep it going."

Rask lost what would have been his 40th career shutout -- second in three games -- when Anders Lee scored to make it 2-1 with 3:08 left but raised his record to 7-8-2.

With the Islanders, playing their fourth game in six nights, pressing for the tying goal, Danton Heinen hit the empty net with 41.2 seconds remaining in the game.

Brad Marchand (11th goal) and rookie Jake DeBrusk (sixth) scored, with Torey Krug and David Pastrnak assisting on both goals as the Bruins won for the fourth time in their last five games.

Marchand beat Jaroslav Halak with a soft power-play goal -- the ninth power-play goal allowed by the Islanders in the last five games -- in the second period. DeBrusk then scored off a spin move in the high slot in the third. He also had the first fight of his NHL career.

"I think I had zero penalty minutes coming into tonight (he did).Now I have 17," he said.

Marchand received a major for nailing John Tavares when he didn't have the puck and could hear from the league, especially considering Marchand's suspension history. Tavares said after the game he was fine, adding, "The video speaks for itself. Don't have much to say about it."

Marchand didn't think he deserved a major, saying, "I don't think so but that's not up to me. The ref is making a split decision call and I think he made the right call by not kicking me out because I think he had that option too."

The Bruins killed a three-minute power play late in the game when Frank Vatrano received a major penalty and a game misconduct for head butting Andrew Ladd, but Lee's tap-in goal came just after the power play ended.

"It was a frustrating game for us tonight," Lee said. "We didn't have much sustained offensive zone time at all. It starts to take away your confidence, it starts to grind you down and it gets frustrating and you get away from your game."

Rask made 26 of his saves in the second and third periods.

"They did a pretty good job of boxing out and they blocked a lot of shots tonight," Ladd said. "You have to give them credit, but it's on us to do more."

The assists extended Pastrnak's points streak to eight straight games, with four goals and six assists over that span. Marchand has eight points during a five-game streak. Patrice Bergeron assisted on the final goal and has a four-game streak.

Krug's assists gave him 14 points in the last 15 games.

Halak, solid except for the Marchand goal, made 30 saves while falling to 8-7-1.

Rookie Mat Barzal assisted on the New York goal and has 28 points in 29 games. He came in leading NHL rookies in scoring.

NOTES: The Bruins are 11-0-1 when leading after two periods. ... One former Bruins D out and another in for the Islanders, with Johnny Boychuk missing his second straight game with a lower-body injury, while Dennis Seidenberg dressed for only his 11th game of the season. He replaced healthy scratch D Scott Mayfield. ... Isles D Calvin de Haan played in his 300th NHL game. ... Boston C Noel Acciari is day-to-day with an upper-body injury after missing Saturday night's game. ... The Bruins took the faceoff battle 38-27, with David Krejci going 14-4. ... The Islanders play their next two at home, hosting the Washington Capitals on Monday, while the Bruins are at Detroit on Wednesday.