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Rangers rally to down Boston

Apr 5, 2011 - 5:29 AM New York, NY (Sports Network) - Michael Sauer's go-ahead goal late in the third period lifted the New York Rangers to a dramatic 5-3 come-from-behind victory over the Boston Bruins at Madison Square Garden.

Brandon Dubinsky tied the game with 3:48 left in the third, while Vinny Prospal scored twice for the Rangers, who scored three times in the last 3:48 of the contest to win their second straight game and move closer to securing a playoff spot in a tight Eastern Conference.

New York now has 91 points and is tied for sixth place with Montreal with two games remaining in the regular season. Buffalo has 90 points and sits in eighth, while Carolina is still on the outside looking in with 87.

Henrik Lundqvist fought off a shaky start to stop 27-of-30 shots and pick up the win.

"We were sluggish early on and Boston won a lot of races to the puck," Rangers head coach John Tortorella said. "We had some struggles as far as their quickness, but there was no panic. For such a young group, to stay within themselves is a great lesson. It is obviously a huge two points."

Daniel Paille, Nathan Horton and Chris Kelly each tallied for Boston, which has lost two of its last three, but has already clinched the Northeast Division title with Saturday's 3-2 victory over Atlanta and is guaranteed no worse than a third seed in the postseason.

Tim Thomas made 21 saves in defeat.

With Boston ahead 3-2 after two periods, New York was unable to capitalize on a power-play opportunity early in the third, but did strike three times late in the contest to steal the victory.

The Rangers pulled even when Ryan Callahan fired a shot toward the net that was knocked down in front and Dubinsky calmly gathered, and backhanded it home to tie the game.

"It gives you goose bumps. It is a feeling you can't describe," Dubinsky said.

Then 51 seconds later, Marian Gaborik put a backhand pass toward the net that hit a Bruin standing on the doorstep and went to Sauer, who got a soft wrist shot through Thomas from in close on the right side with 2:57 left that gave the Rangers the lead.

Derek Stepan added an empty net tally with 53 seconds on the clock to account for the final score.

Boston had the better of the chances in the opening period and broke through for a pair of goals 97 seconds apart.

Paille got things started when he fought off a defender and redirected a Johnny Boychuk pass home from in close with 4:44 left in the stanza.

Horton then jumped on a rebound and put it under the crossbar from the middle slot with 3:07 remaining and it was 2-0 after 20 minutes.

The Bruins outshot New York 19-5 in the first.

Boston struck again at 10:32 of the middle frame. Kelly took a long pass from Tomas Kaberle and finished off an odd-man rush, beating Lundqvist with a wrister to the blocker side from the left circle.

However, Prospal put in a rebound just over a minute later after Thomas was unable handle the initial shot from Wojtek Wolski to make it a 3-1 game.

The pair combined for another tally to get New York within one with 1:34 to play in the second. Wolski handled the puck behind the net and sent a backhand pass to Prospal, who buried it from in close.

Game Notes

The Rangers won three of four from the Bruins this season and have taken six of the last eight contests in the series...Boston has dropped 10 of its last 12 tests at Madison Square Garden...Sauer and Stepan each added an assist...New York improved to 5-0-1 in its last six at home and are 19-16-4 overall at MSG this season...The Bruins fell to 24-11-5 on the road.