Colin Blackwell and Chris Kreider scored 12 seconds apart late in the second period and the host New York Rangers rolled to a 6-2 victory over the Boston Bruins on Friday night.

Fans were in attendance at Madison Square Garden for the first time in nearly a year. Nearly 2,000 spectators were spread out throughout the stands for the Rangers' first home game in front of a crowd since a 6-4 loss to the New Jersey Devils on March 7 -- five days before the NHL paused for more than four months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ryan Strome gave the Rangers a 2-0 lead 2:32 into the second period off a nifty feed from rookie Alexis Lafreniere, and New York struck twice during the final 68 seconds of the period.

Blackwell made it 3-1 just seconds into a power play when he raced to the middle of the crease and tipped a slap shot from defenseman Adam Fox over goaltender Tuukka Rask's right shoulder at 18:52.

At the 19:04 mark, Kreider made it 4-1 when he threw the puck to the net off a sharp angle from the left side of the crease. The puck caromed off the skate of Boston defenseman Charlie McAvoy and trickled under Rask.

Pavel Buchnevich and Jonny Brodzinski padded the lead in the opening 3:43 of the third.

Phillip Di Giuseppe scored the other goal for the Rangers, who won for the third time in four games.

Goaltender Alexandar Georgiev made 31 saves for New York.

Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand scored for Boston, which followed up a 7-2 road loss to the New York Islanders on Thursday with its fourth defeat in five games.

Rask allowed a season-high six goals on 34 shots.

Di Giuseppe gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead with 6:44 left in the first period. Julien Gauthier lifted a wrist shot from the right circle that struck Di Giuseppe and fluttered past Rask. Gauthier was initially credited with the goal before a postgame scoring change.

After Strome's goal, the Bruins pulled within 2-1 when Bergeron redirected David Pastrnak's pass into the vacated net at 4:02 of the second period.

--Field Level Media