New York, NY – Daniel Paille's goal with 3:31 left in the game led the Boston Bruins to a 2-1 win over the New York Rangers in Game 3 of this Eastern Conference semifinal series.
The win gives the Bruins a 3-0 lead in this best-of-seven series with a chance to close things out on Thursday at Madison Square Garden.
"It's definitely a good feeling but it's not over," said Paille. "They didn't want to go down tonight and we really had to work hard for it. We're really going to have to work hard to try and win this series."
Johnny Boychuk tied the contest early in the third period while Tuukka Rask turned away 23 shots for Boston, which got a pair of assists from Shawn Thornton.
Taylor Pyatt had the lone goal while Henrik Lundqvist made 32 stops for the Rangers, who have dug themselves a deep hole thanks to going 0-for-10 on the power play in this series, including 0-for-2 on Tuesday.
"This was a tough night, but all we can do is put this behind us and come out with our all in the next game," said Lundqvist. "But this one really stinks because we played a solid game tonight."
Lundqvist had stopped 23 shots through the first two periods, but the Bruins finally got one past him at 3:10 of the third. They kept working the puck in the New York end and it eventually came back to the right point for Boychuk, who threw the puck through a maze of players for his fourth of the playoffs.
Rask made a tough save on a Rick Nash offering off a rush inside of nine minutes to play, while Lundqvist flashed the leather on a Tyler Seguin wrister from the right circle with 5 1/2 minutes left.
Boston, though, went ahead with 3:31 to play as a left point shot from Greg Campbell got through to the net and popped high into the air. The disc fell behind Lundqvist and rolled out, but Paille skated around the right side of the net and chipped it in for a 2-1 lead.
Rask made the lead stand with just under two minutes to play as he made a body save on a short shot from Nash at the left side.
The Rangers got Lundqvist out of the net with just over a minute to play, but the Bruins prevented the Rangers from getting any quality chances on net before time expired.
Lundqvist made several nice stops in the first period, finishing the frame with nine saves.
His first came on a short break during a 4-on-4 by Chris Kelly as he made a stop on the backhand from in front and the defense cleared away the rebound with 12 minutes left.
With just under nine minutes to play, Seguin skated in on a clear breakaway and went to the backhand, but Lundqvist was again up to the task. During the same sequence moments later, Lundqvist turned away a pair of Jaromir Jagr chances.
Rask made 11 stops in the period and helped Boston kill off a New York power play to keep the game scoreless.
The Rangers took the lead at 3:53 of the second period as Ryan McDonagh threw a shot on net from the high slot just inside the blueline and it went off Pyatt before getting past Rask for a 1-0 lead.
Boston peppered Lundqvist with shots in the second frame, getting a total of 14 on the goaltender. He came up with every stop, though, including a nice glove save on a slap shot from Campbell with 8:24 to play in the frame.
Game Notes
Only three teams have come back from an 0-3 hole in the history of the NHL playoffs. The Toronto Maple Leafs in 1942, the New York Islanders in 1975 and the Philadelphia Flyers in 2010 ... The game was delayed for several minutes in the second period when a pane of glass became dislodged ... The Bruins didn't have a power play in the contest ... Paille also had an assist on the Boychuk goal.
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