Bruins defeat Rangers in OT, extend point streak to nine

NEW YORK -- Brad Marchand scored 36 seconds into overtime, and the Boston Bruins extended their point streak to nine games by defeating the New York Rangers 3-2 at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday.

Marchand was in the neutral zone behind the three Rangers on the ice when he took a pass off the boards from Charlie McAvoy and scored on a breakaway. McAvoy started the play by breaking up a Rangers odd-man rush.
"It's not always going to be pretty," Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask said. "People have to step up. Today that's what we did."
Chris Wagner and Anders Bjork scored, and Rask made 33 saves for the Bruins (9-1-2), who are 8-0-1 since Jan. 21. They have won four in a row, all come-from-behind wins on the road, a first in their history.
"We didn't play very well tonight, we just have that attitude where we pick each other up," Marchand said. "We don't get down on one another. We're always trying to help each other out. We get through things together. That's the mentality we've always had in this room."

The Rangers (4-5-3) got two goals and four points from their fourth line. Julien Gauthier scored his first NHL goal in his 24th game, Kevin Rooney scored, and Brendan Lemieux had two assists.
Alexandar Georgiev made 29 saves in his first start since an altercation with defenseman Tony DeAngelo following a 5-4 overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins here Jan. 30. DeAngelo was placed on waivers the following day, and after he cleared 24 hours later, general manager Jeff Gorton said he would not play for New York again.
"I thought [Georgiev] was really good laterally reading plays, square to the puck," Rangers coach David Quinn said. "The second period we were fortunate to get out of there 1-1. He was on huge on the penalty kill in the second period. They had some Grade A bell ringers that he made some great side-to-side saves on."
The teams play again here Friday.

Bjork gave Boston a 2-1 lead at 9:00 of the third period, scoring through Georgiev's five-hole off a pass from Jake DeBrusk, who was behind the net.
The Rangers tied it 2-2 on Rooney's goal at 11:22. Ryan Lindgren's shot was deflected by Lemieux, and the puck went off Bruins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk's back and Rask's shoulder before Rooney batted it into the net. The goal was confirmed by video review.
The Bruins thought the Rangers played the puck with a high stick and the goal shouldn't have counted.
"We had the option to challenge the original play for a missed stoppage," Boston coach Bruce Cassidy said. "There's some factors that go into that. Does it go directly to their player or not? Does it hit one of our players? It has to be above his shoulder, not the crossbar. So, there's some different things to do. We went back and forth on it. I made the call at the end, let's just play."
Gauthier gave New York a 1-0 lead at 13:50 of the first period, scoring from the slot off a pass from Lemieux.
The Rangers nearly extended the lead at 8:23 of the second period, but Rask got his glove out to stop Mika Zibanejad's redirection from the right post on the rush.
"I didn't recognize that until the puck hit my glove," Rask said. "That's one of those that you've got to get lucky in order to be good."

Zibanejad has one point, an assist, in the past nine games. He has one goal in 12 games this season after scoring 41 in 57 games last season.
"I felt like my own self today," the center said. "Obviously tough with the loss, but felt a lot better today."
Wagner scored shorthanded on a breakaway off a turnover by Artemi Panarin 1:18 after Rask made his save on Zibanejad to tie it 1-1 at 9:41.
The Bruins thought they had taken the lead at 4:53 of the third period. DeBrusk's shot hit Georgiev and then the crossbar before bouncing down on the goal line, but the puck did not cross it. The no-goal call on the ice was confirmed by video review.
"I think if the call goes the other way and they call it a goal, then it probably stands," Cassidy said. "That's what happens a lot of the time. But at the end of the day, they didn't see it that way and that's the way it goes."
NOTES: Quinn said Panarin sustained a lower-body injury, which is why the forward played one shift totaling 1:28 on the power play in the final 15:50 of third period after leaving the ice in apparent pain. He didn't play in overtime. … DeBrusk had an assist and a game-high seven shots playing 14:08 in the forward's return after he missed five games with a lower-body injury. … Grzelcyk played 11:40 and was minus-2 in his first game after missing four with a lower-body injury.