Mika Zibanejad, Alexis Lafreniere and Vitali Kravtsov scored in a span of less than five minutes during a four-goal third period, and the New York Rangers completed their season with a 5-4 victory over the host Boston Bruins on Saturday afternoon.
Zibanejad scored again late, K’Andre Miller also had a goal and Pavel Buchnevich had three assists as the Rangers snapped a five-game losing streak. Keith Kinkaid had 28 saves before exiting during the third with an injury; Igor Shesterkin stopped seven shots the rest of the way.
New York ended its season 27-23-6 for 60 points.
Nick Ritchie, David Pastrnak, Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron scored for the Bruins, whose six-game points streak came to an end. Charlie McAvoy had two assists. Tuukka Rask stopped 18 shots.
Boston (32-15-7, 71 points) has two games remaining before the Stanley Cup playoffs begin.
Pastrnak scored the 200th goal of his career 21 seconds into the third period to give the Bruins a 2-1 lead. The marker was his 20th of the season.
The advantage didn’t stand long, as Zibanejad finished a 3-on-1 to knot the score at 2 at 5:22. Lafreniere’s backhand goal on the rush gave New York a 3-2 edge just 2:04 later.
Kinkaid exited with 11:10 left after injuring himself stretching across the net on a Pastrnak chance, and Kravtsov’s goal from the slot at 9:36 gave the Rangers a 4-2 lead.
Marchand got the Bruins back within one on the power play with 5:52 remaining, but Zibanejad made it 5-3 New York with the 200th goal of his career at 18:07. Bergeron tallied with Rask removed from net with 1:21 left, but Boston couldn’t get the equalizer.
The Rangers got on the board first when Miller ripped a one-timer off a faceoff win past Rask at 6:21 of the second period. Justin Richards, making his NHL debut, picked up an assist on the goal.
Ritchie scored his career-high 15th goal of the season at 18:12 for a 1-1 tie.
–Field Level Media
