Bruins 3, Rangers 2 (OT): Brad Marchand scored his first goal of the postseason 15:40 into overtime as host Boston drew first blood in its Eastern Conference second-round series against its Original Six rival.
Bruins defenseman Johnny Boychuk was victimized by the post on two occasions - once from the right faceoff circle as time expired in the third period and again from the point 6 1/2 minutes into overtime. Marchand ended the tight-knit affair by gaining a step on Mats Zuccarello as he skated up the slot and deflecting Patrice Bergeron's goal-mouth feed from the right circle past Henrik Lundqvist (45 saves).
Captain Zdeno Chara scored to extend his point streak to five games and fellow defenseman Torey Krug netted a power-play goal in his first postseason contest. Tuukka Rask finished with 33 saves for the fourth-seeded Bruins, who host Game 2 on Sunday.
Defenseman Ryan McDonagh and Derek Stepan scored just over 15 seconds apart to bridge the second and third periods and Derick Brassard notched an assist to extend his point streak to six contests. Lundqvist suffered his third overtime loss of the postseason and fell to 3-11 in his career for the sixth-seeded Rangers, who were facing Boston in a playoff series for the first time since 1973.
After McDonagh's blast from the point sailed past a screened Rask to knot the contest with 1.3 seconds remaining in the second period, Stepan gave New York a 2-1 lead just 14 seconds into the third with a shot from the high slot. Krug forged a tie 2:41 later as his wrist shot from the left circle handcuffed Lundqvist.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Chara snapped a scoreless draw with 7:37 remaining in the second period as he blasted the puck while it was on edge from just inside the blue line. The puck trickled behind Lundqvist, who inadvertently knocked it into the net to end his 152-minute, 23-second scoreless streak. The reigning Vezina Trophy winner hadn't yielded a goal since Washington C Mike Ribeiro's overtime winner in Game 5 of the first-round series. ... New York D Michael Del Zotto nearly opened the scoring midway through the first period when his shot from the high slot caromed off the crossbar. ... Injured Boston veteran Ds Andrew Ference (lower body), Dennis Seidenberg (lower body) and Wade Redden (undisclosed) were scratched from the contest and replaced by rookies Dougie Hamilton, Matt Bartkowski and Krug.
NY Rangers | Boston | |
Ryan McDonagh 1 | Points | Zdeno Chara 2 |
Ryan McDonagh 1 | Goals | Zdeno Chara 1 |
Derick Brassard 1 | Assists | Zdeno Chara 1 |
N/A | Power Play Goals | Torey Krug 1 |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Henrik Lundqvist .938 | Save Percentage | Tuukka Rask .943 |
Henrik Lundqvist 45 | Saves | Tuukka Rask 33 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
NY Rangers | 35 | 2 | 0-3 | 3-4 | 8 | 30 |
Boston | 48 | 3 | 1-4 | 3-3 | 6 | 37 |