Brad Marchand scores in overtime as Bruins beat Islanders in Game 3

© Bruce Bennett Brad Marchand ended Game 3 with a goal at 3:36 of overtime.

UNIONDALE, N.Y. — They care about tradition here, from the four Stanley Cup banners — now about four decades old — to the newer hallmarks of Islander Hockey, namely: hang in there, get some gigantic saves, grind out a 2-1 win.

They were about to honor their past and present, until Brad Marchand stomped on the script.

As Islanders netminder Semyon Varlamov was trying to steal Game 3 in a duel with Tuukka Rask on Thursday night, Marchand sent a shot from outside the right circle, some 6 feet before the goal line. It floated over Varlamov’s glove, top corner, far side, at 3:36 of overtime.

A sniper’s touch. It was the third career playoff OT winner for Marchand.

Varlamov (38 saves) and Rask (27) were excellent to that point, the latter stopping some crackling Islanders shots in OT, including a Jordan Eberle-Mathew Barzal combo two minutes in.

The Bruins lead the series, 2-1, with Game 4 Saturday night on Long Island.

Craig Smith (early first period) and Barzal (late third period) scored in regulation.

Some observations from the game:

· Nassau Coliseum is two levels high, and the shouting of the crowd cannonades off the walls and ceiling. The place went bananas when Scott Mayfield dropped Taylor Hall with a big hit behind the Islanders’ net 1:13 in, and again when Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak took their lumps.

· Smith didn’t silence the crowd with his first-period goal, but he gave them something to worry about. Smith, returning to the lineup after missing Game 2 because of a lower-body injury, snapped one crossbar-and-down for a 1-0 lead at 5:52. Credit a whopper of an assist to Hall. Continuing his run of demonic backchecking, he lifted the puck from Barzal in the neutral zone, as the Islanders were changing. Hall set up Smith from the right wall, feathering a feed through two Islanders sticks. It was gorgeous. How much are the Bruins going to pay him, again?

· It was the fourth consecutive playoff start — or, his entire 2021 playoff résumé — in which Varlamov allowed a goal on one of the first three shots he faced.

· A “Tuuuuk-kaaaa” jeer bounced around the building after the Islanders’ first shot on goal — and a few “Tuuuuuk” cries from the Black-and-Gold-wearers in attendance. In addition to Smith’s goal, Tuukka Rask was one of the reasons the Bruins submitted an ideal first period on the road. He made seven saves in the opening 20 minutes, including a blocker stop on an Anthony Beauvillier breakaway. That save, two minutes after Smith’s goal, kept the momentum on the visiting side. Rask was 15 for 15 through 40 minutes, spending the second making high-danger stops on Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Barzal.

· Rask didn’t record a save when Marchand went off for high-sticking Travis Zajac at 11:08 of the first, following a jousting match in the neutral zone. The Bruins, focused on getting sticks in passing lanes after a poor penalty-killing performance in Game 2, allowed zero shots (and got a big block from Charlie McAvoy) and later killed a David Pastrnak slashing call. They had offensive zone time after Marchand excited the box, Mike Reilly sending a long shot that clanked off the crossbar.

· Varlamov (17 saves through two periods) was just as good as Rask, getting a toe on a David Krejci one-timer (another slick feed from Hall) and denying Nick Ritchie, alone in front, with his pads.

· McAvoy, who also put a thunderclap of an open-ice hit on Pageau in response to the Islanders finishing a succession of checks along the boards, had four hits and four blocks through 40 minutes.

· Pastrnak, after his slashing minor, nearly made it 2-0 out of the box with a rebound bid. Beauvillier deflected the puck out of play.

· The night began with a run of old video highlights, with grainy video from the Islanders’ run of four straight Stanley Cup titles (1980-83) in this hallowed building. There wasn’t much of recent vintage, one reason why this crowd was so jacked.

· Varlamov made 38 stops through 60 minutes, including eight on two Bruins power plays in the third. Boston couldn’t break through, and then Barzal arrived.

Barzal, the formerly scoreless Islanders star, notched his first of the series with 5:26 left in regulation, and what a time for it. He tied the game on the Islanders’ 20th shot, after the Bruins outshot the home team, 19-4, in the third.

Rask was looking in the opposite direction as Barzal had three whacks at the right post, free from the defending of Connor Clifton and Jeremy Lauzon. Barzal jammed it home on the third, sending the Coliseum into a frenzy.

· It was another tough moment for the defense, which lost steady backliner Brandon Carlo to a clean, hard hit from Cal Clutterbuck at 6:06 of the third. Clutterbuck rattled Carlo’s head off the end glass, leaving a dazed Carlo unable to get to his feet. He did not return.

· Sean Kuraly’s cross-checking penalty with 2:15 left was one he probably didn’t think he would be called, given the lax standard referees Francis Charron and Kelly Sutherland set earlier in the game. The Bruins, who finished regulation 3 for 3 on the penalty kill, survived until OT.

· The Bruins didn’t draw a call in the first two periods, but veteran Andy Greene’s high-stick on Charlie Coyle let them set up at 1:38 of the third. They had possession for the first 90 seconds, but Varlamov made four stops. He kept it a one-goal game when McAvoy drew a tripping call at 11:04, until Barzal tied it.