NEW YORK _ The venerable bromide _ it's not how you start, it's how you finish _ was certainly appropriate Wednesday night because the Rangers fell behind by two goals then roared back with five straight to beat the Bruins, 5-2, at Madison Square Garden for their third straight win.
Brandon Pirri scored twice as the Rangers scored the quintet of goals, starting near the midway point of the second period with a chip shot by Rick Nash, and ending early in the third. Jimmy Vesey, playing for the first time against his hometown team, finished a two-on-one rush off a backhanded pass through the crease by Nash, and buried the fifth at 3:06.
The victim of the flurry was Zane McIntyre, 24, the goaltender who made his first NHL start and was the fourth different netminder in the last four games for the Bruins, who lost both Tuukka Rask and Anton Khudobin to injury. Malcolm Subban lost 5-0 to the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday, so McIntyre was on deck.
With the win, the Rangers rose to the top of the Metropolitan Division with 10 points; the Penguins have nine.
After sleepwalking and fumbling pucks for the first 20 minutes and dropping into a 2-0 hole, the Rangers rebounded in the second, scoring three times.
On their third power play, when Austin Czarnik was whistled for interference, Rick Nash chipped the puck over a fallen McIntyre at the right post at 9:16 for his third goal of the season and the Blueshirts had some life.
And they were angered by a David Pastrnak cross-check to the head on Dan Girardi, who was reaching up for a high puck, and could have been assessed a major penalty with 9:05 to go. Instead, as Girardi went off to the dressing room, Pastrnak was only given a two-minute minor for an illegal check to the head.
Jesper Fast's hustle created a 2-2 tie, when he battled in the corner, causing the puck to squirt in front and was inadvertently tapped through a kneeling McIntrye by David Krejci at 16:35. Kevin Hayes was awarded to goal.
The go-ahead score came on another power play when Matt Beleskey crunched Girardi, who had returned to the ice, and was whistled for interference. From the left corner, J.T. Miller found Brandon Pirri in the opposite circle and he rifled a shot into the high corner at 19:24.
The Rangers were down early for the fourth time in seven games. Off the opening faceoff, Nick Holden turned the puck over and David Pastrnak came off the left wall, skated untouched into the crease and slid the puck under Henrik Lundqvist at the 10-second mark. Three other opponents struck within the first 1:33. The Blues' Vladimir Tarasenko, the Capitals' Lars Eller, and the Coyotes' Radim Vrbata.
Before the game several players talked about the need to test McIntyre early with shots and screens. The Rangers did neither after the goal. The first shot came with 13:11 left, a long softie that was gloved easily by McIntyre.
After Ryan Spooner was called for interference at 7:40, the Rangers did force McIntyre to make four stops. The best opportunity came when Miller cut across slot, around Adam McQuaid, but McIntyre caught his backhander. He later stopped Miller darting in with his right pad.
An awful turnover by Kevin Klein, who spun near his blueline and flipped a pass to no one in the neutral zone, allowed the Bruins to counter. Czarnik, playing his first game since being concussed on a hit from the Flyers' Radko Gudas, fired toward Lundqvist, who was partially screened by Brady Skjei. The netminder didn't completely stop the shot, and the puck bounced behind him and trickled across the goal line for a 2-0 lead at 14:44.
