National Hockey League
Boston 4, NY Rangers 3
When: 1:00 PM ET, Friday, November 27, 2015
Where: TD Garden, Boston, Massachusetts
Referees: Wes McCauley, Chris Rooney
Linesmen: Matt MacPherson, Brian Murphy
Attendance: 17565

BOSTON -- Earlier this season, the Boston Bruins would have figured out a way to lose Friday's game to the New York Rangers.

Home game. The opposition strikes and takes the lead in the third period. Then strikes again -- that's how you start with one win in your first seven home games, two on the first nine.

It looks like the tide has turned. The Bruins have won five in a row, three of them at home.

"You learn from your previous games when you have gotten frustrated and it's mental toughness," goaltender Tuukka Rask said after the Bruins overcame a third-period power-play goal and struck for two late goals to pull out a 4-3 victory.

"You have to stay in the moment and then just believe in your system and believe in what you do and that's the only way to get through it and today we did. Sometimes you don't but today we did and the past couple of games this week we have, so that's a great sign to build on."

The Bruins (13-8-1) were steamed that left winger Brad Marchand got a goalie interference penalty for brushing Henrik Lundqvist, who sold the call -- center J.T. Miller getting credit for the go-ahead goal with 10:32 left.

But centers Ryan Spooner and David Krejci scored 2:03 apart later in the period. Spooner put a power-play rebound past Lundqvist for his first goal in seven games with 3:46 left -- Boston's second power-play goal in three attempts after going three games without one. Krejci then picked up a bad clear by defenseman Marc Staal and slapped one past Lundqvist with 1:43 remaining.

"We showed a lot of character tonight," Marchand said. "I think we have to be really happy about it. How we finished the game, it shows that we're learning and we're coming together as a team."

As far as the penalty that put his team behind, Bruins coach Claude Julien said, "I know (Lundqvist) does some acting on the side but I don't think he has to do it on the ice."

The Bruins are 5-0-1 in the last six games against the Rangers in Boston. The Rangers, losing for the second straight game, allowing nine goals in the two games, fell to 16-5-2 on the season.

"Those ones sting a lot," said defenseman/captain Ryan McDonagh. "It's under five minutes and they always seem to get something late against us-- right now we haven't been able to finish very well in this barn and it's something that we need to continue to look at and get better."

Center Patrice Bergeron and right winger Brett Connolly also scored for the Bruins, who got two assists from defenseman Torey Krug and 24 saves from Rask.

Center Oscar Lindberg, left winger Rick Nash (six goals in a four-game goals streak) also scored for New York. Lindberg and Nash, who both scored their eighth goals of the season, scored 3:05 apart in the second period.

Lundqvist, who had allowed two goals or less in 14 of his first 17 games, has been touched for the nine in the last two. He made 30 saves on Friday.

The Rangers lost second-line center Derek Stepan indefinitely with broken ribs after Stepan took a heavy hit from Boston left winger Matt Beleskey. With Stepan down on the hard hit, New York defenseman Dylan McIlrath started a fight with Beleskey. Stepan struggled to the bench after being attended to and played five more shifts in the second period but didn't return for the third.

The hit wasn't clean in the eyes of the Rangers.

"In our opinion it was a late hit, more than a couple of feet away from the boards," said New York coach Alain Vigneault. "We'll have to wait and see. I remember (Vancouver's) Aaron Rome in this building, getting suspended four games in a Stanley Cup final (for hitting Nathan Horton). It'll be interesting to see. Stepan broke some ribs so he'll be out indefinitely."

The Stepan injury is the first of any consequence for the Rangers, who have lost only four manpower games to injury in their first 23 games.

NOTES: Just over 40 years ago, these two old rivals stunned the hockey world when the Bruins sent Phil Esposito and Carol Vadnais to the Rangers for Brad Park and Jean Ratelle. ... Bruins D Kevan Miller missed his fifth straight game, his upper-body injury revealed to be a concussion. ... The Rangers had D Dan Boyle and LW Viktor Stahlberg as healthy scratches. ... This was a meeting of the Hayes brothers -- New York LW Kevin and Boston RW Jimmy. The latter assisted on the Bruins' second goal for his first point in 10 games. ... The Rangers host the Philadelphia Flyers Saturday night while the Bruins open a three-game road trip at Edmonton on Wednesday night.
Top Game Performances
 
NY Rangers   Boston
J.T. Miller 2 Points Patrice Bergeron 2
J.T. Miller 1 Goals Patrice Bergeron 1
J.T. Miller 1 Assists Patrice Bergeron 1
J.T. Miller 1 Power Play Goals Brett Connolly 1
N/A Short Handed Goals N/A
Henrik Lundqvist .882 Save Percentage Tuukka Rask .889
Henrik Lundqvist 30 Saves Tuukka Rask 24
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Shots Goals Power Play Penalty Kill Penalty Mins Face Offs Won
NY Rangers 27 3 1-3 1-3 21 30
Boston 34 4 2-3 2-3 11 30
Upcoming Games
  • Boston will play their next game on the road against Edmonton. The Bruins have a W/L % of .667 after a win and .500 after a loss.
  • NY Rangers will play their next game at home against Philadelphia. The Rangers have a W/L % of .765 after a win and .500 after a loss.