The Rangers were 10 minutes from going O-for-the-series on the power play, 10 minutes from a garish end to the season.
With elimination staring the Rangers in the face and a power play that had been short circuiting since before they laid eyes on the Bruins, the Blueshirts finally scored on the man advantage, helping them secure a 4-3 season-saving, overtime victory Thursday night at the Garden.
Brian Boyle flicked a wicked wrist shot that beat Bruins’ goalie Tuukka Rask stick side midway through the third period, tying the score at 3-3 and forcing OT.
When Chris Kreider, last year’s playoff hero, beat Rusk at 7:03 in the extra session, the Rangers weren’t just headed to Boston for Game 5 tomorrow night. They were heading to Boston with renewed faith, their power play packed along with sticks and pads.
“You want to score on every power play,’’ Boyle said. “It’s frustrating if you don’t.
“You can’t accept the fact that it’s not working and say, ‘OK, that’s all right, we missed another opportunity on the power play.’ You’ve got to be determined enough to go and try to make a difference.’’
The Rangers were beginning to wonder if they ever would score again on their power play. They had failed to generate a goal on their first 12 power plays in this series and had gone 23 straight power plays without scoring since the Washington series.
But as Boyle came down the middle of the ice, Derek Stepan put a perfect pass on his stick, and he had enough time to measure Rask and beat him cleanly.
The power had been turned back on.
“As a group we kind of let it take a life of its own, but at the same time we were confident the whole time that power play was going to find a way to get it done,’’ Stepan said.
The power play has not been a Rangers strength all season. They scored on just 15.7 percent of their 5-on-4 advantages during the regular season, 23rd in the league.
But after scoring power plays in Games 3 and 4 against the Capitals, the Rangers couldn’t find the back of the net with a spotlight and a GPS.
Earlier in the day, Boyle said, “We’re going to win tonight. That’s what we believe.” And he helped make it happen.
“We can make plays,’’ Boyle said. “We got to have that confidence. I thought their unit did a really good job moving the puck around and getting some really good opportunities. Derek just makes a great feed. So it’s there, I think, we just got to execute.’’
The Bruins opened a 2-0 lead by scoring on two power plays in the second period. They were 2-for-4 in the game and have been dazzling with the advantage, scoring on 3-of-9 power plays.
The Rangers had another power play chance two minutes after Boyle’s goal but could not score. The numbers are 3-for-42 on the power play. But at least the tenor of the talk has changed.
“We’re talking about it now,’’ Boyle said with a smile. “We just needed to do it. The past games we lost, we get a power play goal, different game.’’
If the Rangers can continue to capitalize on the power play, the series could take a longer turn.