BOSTON -- Playing their first game of the season in first place and looking for answers to their problems on home ice, the Boston Bruins knew they needed a strong effort against a good hockey team to win on Saturday.

They got it.

"I think it was exactly what we were looking for," coach Claude Julien said after his team's 3-1 win over the New York Islanders. "We knew we were going to get a pretty hungry Islanders team and we were going to get the best of them, so it was important for us to be on top of our game right from the drop of the puck."

David Pastrnak scored two goals and Loui Eriksson posted a goal and two assists as the Bruins celebrated their first game as a first-place team by staying right there in the Atlantic Division.

The Bruins (39-23-8) play six of the next seven games on the road, but the road hasn't been the problem. They are 23-7-3 away from home but Saturday's victory only brought them up to .500 -- 16-16-5 -- on home ice.

"We want to get wins definitely coming down the stretch at home, some wins for fans," said Matt Beleskey. "And I think that was pretty exciting, a fun game to watch and two points is exactly what we needed."

The Bruins, who took over first place in the Atlantic Division with an overtime loss on Thursday night, now hit the West Coast.

Tuukka Rask stopped 25 shots in the victory, which wrapped up a sweep of the three-game season series with New York.

Pastrnak broke a 1-1 tie with 8.9 seconds left in the second period and then beat Thomas Greiss with a bad-angle shot with 2:34 remaining and the Isles looking for the tie.

Pastrnak's 11th and 12th goals of the season sent the Islanders (37-21-8) to their second straight loss.

The Bruins (39-23-8) defeated the Islanders twice in Brooklyn but the teams had not squared off since Nov. 8.

John Tavares tied the game for New York in the second period by becoming the 11th Islander ever to score 200 goals. He has a goal in each of the last three games.

"I don't really think about it, really at all," Tavares said of a milestone he has reached at 25. "I didn't really have any idea until maybe a couple days ago, found out I was one away. So ... it's 200, and hopefully I can get another couple hundred.

"It's just, (I'm) more focused on (the) disappointment of (losing) the game today.”

Tavares and his teammates felt they could recover from the last-second Pastrnak goal.

"Third period, we started to finally find some rhythm, line after line, and you're playing catch-up all night, it can take a lot out of you," Tavares said. "It's hard to win that way."

Greiss, playing his second game since Jaroslav Halak went down for an estimated six weeks because of a lower body injury, made 28 saves but suffered his first regulation loss in his last 10 starts.

"(I) was pretty good until the third goal there," Greiss said. "I wasn't happy with that one, but overall was pretty good."

The Bruins took a 1-0 lead on the power play at 18:26 of the first period, Eriksson getting the puck down low and working his way around Greiss to score his 26th of the season.

The Islanders drew iron behind Rask twice in the second period before Tavares came through, capping a lengthy stretch of fore-checking against defensemen Zdeno Chara and Kevin Miller.

Tavares scored on the backhand shot and has a goal in three straight games.

The Islanders, who had only five shots in the first period, played better in the second, but allowed the Bruins too much time in the New York zone in the closing seconds.

David Krejci found Pastrnak down low and Pastrnak beat Greiss in tight.

"I'm just trying to focus on small details, play good (defense) and make smart decisions," Pastrnak said. "I play with two great guys (Krejci and Eriksson) very high skills.

"Just focusing to fill in on the line. Twice they found me, and it was easy for me to just put a puck in the net."

NOTES: Islanders C John Tavares' 200th career goal marked the second milestone of the weekend for his family. His uncle, also John Tavares, had his No. 11 retired by the Buffalo Bandits of the National Lacross League on Friday night. ... The regulation decision ended a run of four straight overtime games for the Bruins. ... Boston D Kevan Miller returned after missing three games because of a shoulder injury resulting from an Alex Ovechkin hit, but Islanders D Calvin de Haan missed his fourth straight game with a lower body injury. ... The Bruins will be on the road for St. Patrick's Day, so they wore green jerseys in the pregame on Saturday. ... The Bruins have defeated the Islanders five straight times.