Islanders moving on after ousting Bruins

They earn a rematch with the defending champion Lightning in the Eastern semifinals.

UNIONDALE, N.Y. — Brock Nelson scored twice in another big second period by New York, Semyon Varlamov stopped 23 shots and the Islanders beat the Boston Bruins 6-2 in Game 6 on Wednesday to advance to the Stanley Cup semifinals for the second straight year.

Kyle Palmieri, Travis Zajac, Cal Clutterbuck and Ryan Pulock also scored to help the Islanders set up a rematch with the defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning. Josh Bailey and Jean-Gabriel Pageau each had two assists.

Brad Marchand scored twice for Boston, and Tuukka Rask made 23 saves.

With the Bruins on the power play, Marchand got the puck in front of the net and put a backhander past Varlamov from the right side at 5:38 of the third to cut Boston’s deficit to 4-2.

With the minutes winding down on Boston’s season, New York hemmed in the Bruins in their end of the ice, preventing them from pulling Rask for an extra skater until 1:25 left.

Clutterbuck scored an empty-netter with 59 seconds left to seal it.