Zuccarello scores in OT as Rangers beat Bruins
BOSTON » Mats Zuccarello scored a power-play goal 1:56 into overtime to lift the New York Rangers to a 3-2 victory over the Boston Bruins on Saturday.
Michael Grabner and J.T. Miller also scored for the Rangers, who won for the ninth time in 13 games (93-1) overall and beat the Bruins for the seventh straight time. Henrik Lundqvist, playing back-to-back days, made 33 saves.
Brad Marchand and Danton Heinen scored for Boston, which lost its second straight after winning nine of 11. Tuukka Rask stopped 25 shots.
Skating 4-on-3 in the overtime after Boston was whistled for too many men on the ice, Zuccarello beat Rask with a rising shot from the right circle.
Trailing 2-1, the Bruins tied it on Marchand’s power-play goal at 5:38 of the third period. Marchand one-timed a cross-ice pass from David Pastrnak from the right circle for his 13th. Boston got the power play after Marchand drew a holding penalty on David Desharnais.
Boston’s David Krejci hit a post with seven minutes left in regulation.
The Rangers took a 1-0 lead when Grabner benefited from a fluky bounce with 5:18 left in the first. He fired a shot from the slot that sailed over the net, but the puck caromed off the glass and hit Rask’s back before sliding into the net for Grabner’s team-leading 16th goal.
New York made it 2-0 on Miller’s power-play goal 2:41 into the second. With Krejci off for high-sticking, Miller collected Ryan McDonagh’s pass near Boston’s blue line at full speed, cut into the zone, shifted around defenseman Brandon Carlo and lifted a backhander behind Rask.
Rask kept it a two-goal game by making a nice right-pad stop on Rick Nash’s clean breakaway while the Bruins were on a power play.