Islanders win a rough-and-tumble game to tie up series with Bruins at two games apiece

Rask was beaten by that, a one-timer he barely saw, and nothing else. He made 30 stops, holding the Bruins in it as Semyon Varlamov (28 saves) was doing the same at the other end.

Casey Cizikas finished it with an empty-netter with 1:03 remaining, after the Islanders locked down the Bruins in the critical final minutes. Once the Patrice Bergeron line hit the ice for its final shift, Jean-Gabriel Pageau cut off David Pastrnak’s rush attempt, stole the puck, and seconds later Cizikas had the dagger.

Pageau sent home another empty-net goal with 2.4 seconds left.

Pastrnak may be thinking about that come Sunday morning, but he will definitely be thinking about his missed opportunity in the first period.

With 3:02 left in the first, Pastrnak collapsed, face and stomach down on the ice, in disbelief after missing one of the more wide-open chances of his career. He had the entire net free, from 12 feet out in the left circle … and hit the far post.

Varlamov, challenging Patrice Bergeron’s fake shot on the opposite side, was almost completely out of his crease, his right skate touching the paint. Bergeron slipped a pass to Pastrnak, and … oh, no.

Notes from a 1-1 game after 40 minutes:

▪ Taylor Hall was the tone-setter of a rough-and-tumble start. The Bruins winger turned up the first-period heat to 11 by challenging Scott Mayfeld — at 6 feet, 5 inches and 220 pounds, the largest player in the Isles lineup — to a fight after the defenseman rubbed him out along the boards and threw him down. Both Hall and Mayfield got in a few stiff shots before wrestling each other to the ice. A top-six dynamo taking on a defense-first blueliner? Let the record show the Bruins lost a trade involving Hall. It was the second NHL fight for Hall, whose first came as a rookie (March 3, 2011, against Derek Dorsett).

▪ The Bruins had the only power play of the first period after Barzal put his stick up as Curtis Lazar came in for a hit, dropping the Bruins fourth-liner with a cross-check that could draw the attention of the NHL’s Department of Player Safety (recall that Jake DeBrusk drew a $5,000 fine for a high cross-check on Mayfield in Game 2). In the scrum that followed, Matt Martin and Jarred Tinordi threw heavyweight blows.

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▪The Bruins opened the scoring at 3:57 of the second on the power play, after Brad Marchand drew a hold on Martin. David Krejci got a few hundred Bruins fans hooting with a low-angle putback of a Pastrnak shot. Krejci later had the Islanders fans hollering after spearing Barzal between the legs, an act that will likely leave his wallet lighter.

▪ The Islanders nearly fell into a 2-0 hole via a strange decision by Barry Trotz, who unsuccessfully challenged Krejci’s goal for goaltender interference, alleging that Marchand’s stick interfered with Varlamov’s pad. The review was quick. But the Isles tied the game shortly after the resulting delay of game penalty expired. Lazar gave Barzal enough whacks to earn a penalty, but Barzal didn’t let them go on the power play. He slipped Lazar’s check and fed Kyle Palmieri in front for a one-timer finish at 6:38 of the second.

▪ Rask had little chance there, and was in total very sharp. He robbed Anthony Beauvillier with a toe save in the first, after the Isles winger dangled across the crease. He slammed his pads on a Josh Bailey one-timer, after Brock Nelson turnstiled Connor Clifton. He made 20 saves through 40 minutes, facing nine high-danger shot attempts. Varlamov was challenged just as much, submitting the same numbers in those categories.

▪ Krejci’s penalty came at 11:16 of the second. After absorbing a row of uncalled cross-checks from Barzal, the mild-mannered veteran showed his displeasure by pitchforking him. Krejci was called for a major, reduced to a minor on review, likely for Barzal’s stickwork. Tinordi blocked two shots on a successful penalty kill.

▪ The Bruins kept playing with fire. With 53 seconds left in the middle period, McAvoy’s stick caught Beauvillier in the face. This was about a minute after officials missed a high stick on Lauzon by Zajac, and seconds after they opted not to call Nelson for hitting McAvoy in the numbers. On the NBC broadcast, analyst Pierre McGuire termed the latter exchange “playing for keeps.”

Matt Porter can be reached at matthew.porter@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter: @mattyports.