Rangers Rally From Two Down To Beat Bruins 5-2

Brandon Pirri scored two of the New York Rangers‘ five unanswered goals to lead his team to a 5-2 home victory over the Boston Bruins on Wednesday.

Rangers Rally From Two Down To Beat Bruins 5-2

After trailing 2-0 at the end of the first period, Rick Nash, Kevin Hayes and Pirri all scored for the Rangers in a span of 10:08 in the second period. Rookie left wing Jimmy Vesey and Pirri scored 43 seconds apart early in the third period to put the game out of reach.

Pirri, Nash, Vesey, center Derek Stepan and left wing J.T. Miller each had two points. Henrik Lundqvist made 27 saves for his third straight win.

“We just felt like we could turn it around,” Lundqvist said. “We showed it to ourselves already so many times this season, so we didn’t panic.”

The Rangers (5-2-0) are now 4-1-0 at home and have won three straight games.

After the game, Stepan praised Pirri, who signed with the Rangers as a free agent in August after splitting last season with Florida and Anahaeim. The center-forward has four goal and two assists in seven games.

‘‘You guys can all see he can shoot the puck,’’ Stepan said. ‘‘He’s got a knack for the net. It’s not easy to score goals in this league and he seems to be in those areas to score. That’s a difficult thing and, to me, that’s a skill. If you have it, it’s special and it’s rare.’’

Bruins rookie goalie Zane McIntyre made 26 saves in his first NHL start. Nine of those saves came in the dominant first period, during which he was backed by goals from forwards David Pasternak at 10 seconds and Austin Czarnik at 14:44. It was Czarnik’s first NHL goal.

Then in the second period, the Bruins’ defense seemed to fall apart. Nash scored a power-play goal at 9:06. Hayes followed with his game-tying goal at 16:35. Pirri then scored on a power play of his own to put New York up 3-2 with 36 seconds remaining in the period.

Pirri struck again at 2:23 of the third and Vesey, a Boston native who won the Hobey Baker award at Harvard, scored 43 seconds later.

“Highs and lows,” McIntyre said. “I think it’s about maybe conquering those highs and lows, not getting too upbeat after a good save or a nice play and not getting too low after you get scored on. The biggest thing was just getting in there, seeing the action, really taking it all in and making sure that I can improve. … It’s just obviously not the result we were looking for.”

Pirri’s go-ahead power-play goal was a perfect exhibit of his prowess. He got a pass from Miller, took his time in the right circle and fired a shot into the top right corner.

Lundqvist made a key save on Bruins center Dominic Moore at 5:26 of the second period to keep the deficit at two goals. Moore was alone in the left circle and fired a wrist shot that Lundqvist knocked away.

Seconds before Nash scored the Rangers’ first goal, Hayes made a critical play to maintain the puck in the zone. He knocked down a clearing attempt from Boston defenseman Torey Krug, dove forward to keep the play alive and put the puck at the right wing boards, allowing Vesey to pick it up and move it across the zone to Stepan, who sent it to Nash with a low pass.

Rangers forward Josh Jooris sustained a separated shoulder in the first period and will be out indefinitely, coach Alain Vigneault said.

The Bruins will next visit the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday, while the Rangers will visit the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday.

NEW YORK, NY – OCTOBER 26: Kevin Hayes #13 of the New York Rangers scores a goal on Zane McIntyre #31 of the Boston Bruins during the second period at Madison Square Garden on October 26, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)