Chara nets game
Zdeno Chara and Patrice Bergeron scored third-period goals to lift the Boston Bruins to a 3-2 comeback win over the New York Rangers on Friday.
Brad Marchand also scored for the Eastern Conference-leading Bruins, who improved to 9-2-2 in their last 13 games.
Rick Nash and Ryan McDonagh scored for the Rangers, who completed a five-game road trip 3-2.
Tuukka Rask stopped 17 shots for Boston, which hasn't lost in regulation at home in its last 10 games (8-0-2).
Henrik Lundqvist made 25 saves for the Rangers, who played their first game in Boston since the Bruins eliminated them in five games in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs last spring.
Chara unloaded a low slap shot from straight away about 10 feet inside the blue line that beat Lundqvist between his pads. After he fired his shot, Chara was knocked to the ice. When the puck went into the net, while still on his knees, he pumped his fists in the air in celebration.
Boston had tied it 2-2 on Bergeron's goal early in the third period. His shot was stopped by Lundqvist, but caromed into the net off defenseman Dan Girardi, who was in front with the Bruins Loui Eriksson.
The Bruins were called for too many men on the ice with 4 1/2 minutes left, but held the Rangers without any good scoring chances.
With New York trailing 1-0 in the first period, Nash and McDonagh scored 1:22 apart. Nash, playing his sixth game after missing 17 with a concussion sustained on Oct. 8, tied it when he spun around near the right circle and slipped a wrister inside the left post.
McDonagh moved the Rangers ahead when his rising shot from the high slot beat Rask inside the left post. Benoit Pouliot appeared to screen Rask on the shot.
The Bruins had jumped ahead 1-0 when Marchand one-timed Chara's cross-ice pass under the crossbar from the bottom of the right circle for just his second goal in 11 games.
Midway into a well-paced but scoreless second, Boston's Torey Krug nailed the left post with a wrist shot. The Bruins had a handful of other good scoring bids that were shot just wide or turned aside by Lundqvist.
Both teams had excellent scoring chances in the game's opening minutes. Boston's Chris Kelly redirected a shot that hit the post and Carl Soderberg fired one that sneaked between Lundqvist's pads but trickled just wide. New York's Derick Brassard cut in alone for a decent bid that Rask stopped 6 minutes into the contest.
Boston was coming off a 6-1 loss at Detroit on Wednesday, its first of three games in four days.
NOTES: Bruins D Dennis Seidenberg returned after missing the last four games with an undisclosed lower body injury. ... Rangers LW Taylor Pyatt played his second consecutive match after missing eight with a concussion. ... New York faces Vancouver and former Rangers coach John Tortorella at home Saturday. Rangers coach Alain Vigneault was Vancouver's coach before joining New York. ... Boston hosts Columbus on Saturday. ... Boston captain Chara squared off in a fight with Brian Boyle in the second that brought a loud roar from the sold-out TD Garden crowd. It was Chara's first fighting major of the season. ... Boston won the first meeting 2-1 at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 19. The teams meet one more time in the regular season, March 2 in New York. ... The Rangers entered tied for the NHL lead with nine road wins.
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