Bruins rally in 3d period to beat Rangers

By Jimmy Golen, Associated Press, 11/02/02

BOSTON -- Brian Berard scored on a deflected shot with 38.8 seconds left as the Boston Bruins rallied from a two-goal deficit to beat the New York Rangers 3-2 on Saturday night.

New York led 2-0 after two periods, but Joe Thornton and Sean Brown scored 2:13 apart early in the third to tie it. That's the way it stayed until Berard lined it up from the blue line and slapped it off Pavel Bure's stick and past goalie Daniel Blackburn.

Steve Shields stopped 25 shots for Boston, which has lost just once in its last nine games (7-0-2-0).

Rem Murray scored a short-handed goal, and Mark Messier also scored for the Rangers. Blackburn, making his first start since Oct. 21, made 30 saves.

Boston couldn't muster much of an attack in the first two periods. But 2 minutes into the third, Brian Rolston's shot was deflected by a defender to Thornton, who swept it into the net to make it 2-1.

It was just Boston's second power-play goal at home this season.

The Bruins tied it 2:13 later when P.J. Stock passed across the ice to Michal Grosek, who sent the puck over to Blackburn's left for Brown. He backhanded it across the crease and put it past the goalie's stick side to make it 2-2 with 15:47 to play.

Darius Kasparaitis was off for interference when Murray opened the scoring on a crossing pass from Boston University's Tom Poti with 18 seconds left in the first period. Less than a minute into the second period -- on the same penalty -- Murray picked up the puck in the neutral zone with no one between him and the goal.

But this time, Shields stopped him.

New York made it 2-0 when Bruins defenseman Hal Gill swiped at the puck inside the blue line and missed. Messier corralled the bouncing puck and put it between Shields' pads at the 7:04 mark.

Notes: Former Bruins captain Terry O'Reilly, whose No. 24 was retired by Boston on opening night, was back as a Rangers assistant coach. ... Sergei Samsonov missed his seventh consecutive game with a right wrist sprain. ... Bobby Holik missed his third in a row with a hip flexor. ... The Bruins entered the night last in the NHL on the power play at home, and the Rangers were first in penalty killing on the road.