Tip-in by Ryan lifts Senators over Bruins in overtime

BOSTON >> The Ottawa Senators needed a late rally in Game 2 to tie up their Eastern Conference quarterfinal matchup with the Boston Bruins.

In Game 3 they had to stave off a furious charge by the Bruins to regain the series lead.

Bobby Ryan scored on a tip-in on a power play 5:43 into overtime, and the Ottawa recovered after giving up a three-goal lead to beat Boston 4-3 Monday night and take a 2-1 edge in the first-round series.

Just over a minute after Bruins center Riley Nash received a 2-minute penalty for roughing Ryan, Ryan got free in the zone, tapping it in on assists by Kyle Turris and Erik Karlsson. Mike Hoffman added two goals for Ottawa, with Derick Brassard scoring the other. Craig Anderson finished with 17 saves.

“I always say that you make your money during the season, but you make your reputation in the playoffs, and right now he’s showing everybody that he’s a gamer,” Senators coach Guy Boucher said of Ryan.

It was the second straight overtime game of the series, and second consecutive win for the Senators following their 4-3 victory in Game 2.

Game 4 is Wednesday night in Boston.

This time Bruins rallied from a 3-0 deficit with three goals in second period, tying the game on a power play goal by David Pastrnak.

Noel Acciari and David Backes also scored for the Bruins. Tuukka Rask stopped 28 shots.

“We were allowed to play in the second and third (periods), we were a better team,” Pastrnak said. “We had many opportunities to end it in the third.”

Bruins fans rained sustained boos on the referees after Ryan’s goal and threw items on the TD Garden ice in protest of the Nash’s penalty, which give the Senators the one-man advantage. Boston interim coach Bruce Cassidy said the penalty took the energy out of his team’s surge to tie the game in regulation.

“Yeah, I agree with you 100 percent — demoralizing,” he said.

Ottawa seemed to be cruising in the second period following Hoffman’s second goal of the night off a power play to make it 3-0. But then Boston finally got going on the offensive end.

First, Acciari, who returned from injury, got Boston on the board on a tip-in off a miss by JohnMichael Liles. That was followed 42 seconds later by Backes’ slap shot after he broke through the Senators defense to swipe the puck and open the ice.

Then, the Bruins finally cashed in on Pastrnak’s goal with Dion Phaeneuf in the penalty box for slashing.

It nearly nullified what was a dominating start by the Senators, who kept the action on their side of the red line for most of the first period.