Game 7: Bruins rally to win in OT; Rangers shutout Caps

Trailing by three goals in the third period and still by two with less than 90 seconds left in their season, the Boston Bruins scored twice in a span of 31 seconds to tie it and then eliminated the Toronto Maple Leafs on Patrice Bergeron's goal at 6:05 of overtime to win, 5-4, in Game 7. Toronto opened a 4-1 lead in the 3rd period of the decisive game, but Nathan Horton cut the deficit to two midway through and then Milan Lucic and Bergeron scored in the final 1:22 with goalie Tuukka Rask on the bench for an extra skater.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Bruins are the first team in NHL history to win a Game 7 after trailing by three goals in the third period. Boston's next opponent will be the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference semifinals. The Bruins will host Games 1 and 2 this Thursday and Sunday before traveling to New York for Games 3 and 4 on May 21st and 23rd. The Original Six rivals have not met in the playoffs since 1973, in which the Rangers won that series in five games.




Led by Henrik Lundqvist's 35 saves in a second consecutive shutout, the New York Rangers shutout the Washington Capitals, 5-0, to win the Eastern Conference quarterfinals in seven games and thus, eliminating Washington for the second year in a row. According to STATS LLC, the last NHL goalie to pull off the double shutouts in Games 6 & 7 was Detroit's Dominik Hasek in 2002 against Colorado. The Red Wings won the Stanley Cup that year.

By winning a Game 7 on the road for the first time in team history, the N.Y. Rangers completed their comeback after trailing in the series 2-0 and 3-2 - the latest in Washington's long history of playoff collapses. Now the 6th-seeded Rangers will face the #4 Bruins with Game 1 to be played this Thursday in Boston.