BOSTON _ When you're scoring in bunches, teams can find different ways to win.
And the Rangers did just that on Saturday, netting their first two short-handed goals of the season to extend their winning streak to four with a 5-2 win over the Bruins at TD Garden.
Derek Stepan, who had a goal and two assists, scored the first short-hander from in front on a pass from Michael Grabner at 17:59 of the first period to snap a tie at 1. Then Kevin Hayes scored short-handed 2:18 into the second period to make it 3-1 when he beat Tuukka Rask from 15 feet.
Nick Holden had scored in the first and rookie Pavel Buchnevich put the icing on the cake with a power-play goal _ his first in the NHL _ at 13:37 of the third.
Backup Antti Raanta, named the first star of the game, made 35 saves and won for the third time in three starts. The Rangers, who have won seven of eight, improved to 9-3. They host Winnipeg at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.
Rask had won all six of his previous starts and had been the most valuable player for the Bruins (6-5) with a 1.48 GAA and a .951 save percentage. Scoring has not been the Bruins' forte so far, with just 26 goals in 11 games, in the bottom three of the Eastern Conference.
Meanwhile, the Rangers have scored 50 goals to lead the league.
Bruins center Patrice Bergeron opened the scoring at 3:44 of the first, after he won a right-circle face off from Stepan and both Dan Girardi and Ryan McDonagh mishandled the puck behind Raanta. Stepan lost track of Bergeron, who had drifted low between the circle, and Brad Marchand found him for a 1-0 lead.
In the last game, the Edmonton Oilers took three one-goal leads, and the Rangers managed to tie the score each time, and it happened on the first goal again.
The Bruins caused a little chaos with their jump and forechecking in the middle of the period, but at 15:09 a soft wrister from Holden at the right point tipped off David Krejci's glove midway to the net and flew by Rask. The assists went to Jimmy Vesey, playing for the first time in his hometown as a Ranger, and Stepan.
Marc Staal went off for tripping at 16:30 and the Bruins spent the entire first minute in the Rangers zone, but Grabner finally poked the puck into the neutral zone, went down the right side, slowed, and found Stepan skating hard toward Rask, who knocked away the initial try, but the puck bounced off Stepan's skate and in at 17:59. It was the first goal of the year for Stepan, and the first shorthanded goal of the season for the Blueshirts.
A little luck also was needed. Just before Hayes' goal, Girardi got a stick on pass through the slot to Torey Krug, who batted the bouncing puck through the crease with Raanta out of position and flailing.
In the third, after Buchnevich scored to make it 4-1, David Pastrnak scored with just under five minutes to play on a deflection in front. It was far too little for the Bruins. Grabner picked Krejci's pocket at 16:38, skated down the left side and beat Rask for his seventh to seal it.
