New York: The Boston Bruins took control midway through the second period to claim a 5-2 win over the New York Rangers and gain a commanding 2-0 lead in their Eastern Conference semi-final yesterday.
The best-of-seven series now shifts to New York for a pair of contests with Game Three set for today at Madison Square Garden.
“We expect them to come harder than ever,” said Bruins forward Milan Lucic, looking ahead to the next game in New York. “We know MSG (Madison Square Garden) is going to be rocking and once again we’re going to have to do a good job with good clean breakouts and playing in the offensive zone.”
Rookie defenceman Torey Krug, Gregory Campbell, Johnny Boychuck, Brad Marchand and Lucic each had a goal for the Bruins while Ryan Callahan and Rick Nash were the only Rangers to beat Tuukka Rask, who was again outstanding in the Boston net facing 37 shots.
Krug, one of three rookies pressed into duty on the Bruins’ injury-hit blueline, notched his second goal in as many playoff games to open the scoring before Callahan beat Rask on a breakaway to send the teams into the first intermission deadlocked at 1-1.
Campbell and Nash, with his first of the post-season, traded goals in the second before the Bruins seized control on Boychuk’s third of the play-offs.
Boston pulled away in the third with Marchand redirecting a goalmouth feed from Patrice Bergeron just 26 seconds into the frame while Lucic completed the rout.
“I think all the pressure was on us and we had a great start,” said Lucic. “We were able to get that first goal and every time they were able to tie it up we were able to extend the lead.
“Once we stopped turning the puck over at the blueline we started to frustrate them a bit and that is going to be key for us in Game Three.”
Meanwhile, the Ottawa Senators clawed their way back into their Eastern Conference semi-final series against Pittsburgh on Sunday, Colin Greening’s goal in double overtime giving them a 2-1 win over the Penguins in Game Three.
After losing the first two games of the series and trailing 1-0 on the night to Tyler Kennedy’s second period goal, Ottawa were just seconds away from losing a third straight to the top-seeded Penguins.
However, Daniel Alfredsson scored with 29 seconds left in regulation, despite the Senators being shorthanded, before Greening’s goal cut the deficit in the best-of-seven series to 2-1.
Game Four is in Ottawa tomorrow.
Sidney Crosby was coming off a hat-trick that gave the Penguins command in Game Two but he was held without a point yesterday. Agencies
