The Bruins get their first chance against Henrik Lundqvist on Thursday in Game 1. (AP)

Fresh from their miraculous Game 7 win over the Maple Leafs, the Bruins will open the Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Rangers on Thursday night, the NHL announced Monday night. The Bruins, as the No. 4 seed, have home-ice advantage for the series against the Rangers, who finished as the No. 6 seed and eliminated the Capitals, 5-0, in Game 7 Monday night in Washington.

The Bruins will play Game 1 at TD Garden at 7:30, and that will be followed up by Game 2 on Sunday at 3 p.m., also at TD Garden.

The series will shift to Madison Square Garden for Games 3 and 4. Game 3 will be next Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. followed by Game 4 Thursday, May 23, at 7 p.m.

Game 5, if necessary will be back in Boston on Saturday, May 25. Game 6 would be Monday, May 27, at MSG and Game 7 would be back in Boston on Wednesday, May 29.

Claude Julien found just right answers at the right time in Game 7. (Mike Petraglia/WEEI.com)

Claude Julien spoke for Bruins fans everywhere and certainly those in his own organization when he was asked what it was like to survive the most miraculous Game 7 comeback in the history of the Stanley Cup playoffs Monday night.

“They certainly keep you in check,” Julien said. “I’m a tired coach, I’ll you that much, trying to find a way to get these guys to give us what we want out of them. We make it tough on ourselves. We’re being honest here, not being able to close it in Game 5. We’ve had trouble, we’ve always had trouble with the killer instinct.”

Down 4-1 and the their season all but over, the Bruins managed to score three times, including twice with an extra attacker in the final 1:22 of regulation to force overtime in Game 7. Patrice Bergeron scored the game-tying and game-winning goals as the Bruins prevailed, 5-4, in Game 7 and now get to face the Rangers starting Thursday at TD Garden.

“That’s maybe a fault of ours but the strength of ours is the character that you saw tonight,” Julien said. “There’s that fault and that character and somewhere along the way you try to fix the faults and keep the character going. That’s the biggest challenge for me.”

Claude Julien had little update on the condition of defenseman Dennis Seidenberg following the Bruins’ Game 7 win over the Maple Leafs.

Seidenberg took only two shifts and did not play after the first two minutes of the game. He stayed on the bench but was unable to play. Julien said the team will be able to provide an update Tuesday.

“We’ll know better tomorrow whether it’s short-term or long-term,” Julien said.

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Milan Lucic

If you thought the Bruins were going to undergo some big changes following a series collapse and second consecutive first-round exit, you weren’t alone. Milan Lucic said after the Bruins’ 5-4 come-from-behind Game 7 overtime victory that when the Bruins trailed the Maple Leafs by three goals late in regulation that they were “real conscious” of the possibility that changes would be made if they lost.

“You’re looking at the clock wind down with half a period left at 4-1,” Lucic said. “You start thinking to yourself, ‘Is this the end of this group here?’ Because it probably would have been if we didn’t win this game.”

Lucic said that the team has been inconsistent since winning the Stanley Cup in 2011, and that the team proved Claude Julien‘s Jekyll-and-Hyde comparison right in Game 7. The 24-year-old winger scored with 1:22 left in regulation to bring the B’s within one before Patrice Bergeron scored in the final minute and then in overtime to give the Bruins the win.

“It’s a special group and we don’t want it to change,” Lucic said. “Everyone has a lot of fun coming to the rink here and being around each other and playing for each other. I think we need to keep stepping it up and hopefully push for another good run here because the Rangers are going to be just as hard or even better.”

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The celebration is on for the Bruins after Patrice Bergeron (right) scored in overtime to give the Bruins a 5-4 overtime victory over the Maple Leafs in Game 7. (AP)

The Bruins ended up having the comeback that mattered most, Boston came back from a 4-1 deficit in the third period against the Maple Leafs in Game 7 before advancing on an overtime goal from Patrice Bergeron.

With the Bruins trailing 4-1 in the third, Nathan Horton, Milan Lucic and Bergeron scored to even the game. Both Bergeron and Lucic’s goals came in the final 1:22 with Tuukka Rask pulled for an extra skater. Bergeron added his second of the game on a rebound at 6:05 of overtime to give the B’s a 5-4 win.

The Bruins were hurting big-time on their backend, as Wade Redden was kept out of the lineup with Andrew Ference already out. The biggest shoe of all dropped when Dennis Seidenberg didn’t play after the first two minutes of the first period, forcing the Bruins to rely heavily on Zdeno Chara, Johnny Boychuk and Matt Bartkowski.

Bartkowski did well with the responsibilities he was given, as he got the Bruins on the board in the first period with his first career NHL goal. Toronto answered back by getting a power-play goal from Cody Franson and another tally from Franson through a screen in the second period. The Leafs added to their lead in the third period with goals from Phil Kessel and Nazem Kadri. Horton brought the Bruins within two with his fourth goal of the playoffs before the B’s tied it with a late flurry.

WHAT WENT RIGHT FOR THE BRUINS

• That was the second three-goal comeback in the third period this season for the B’s, as they accomplished the feat on Feb. 12 against the Rangers before losing in in a shootout.

• Bartkowski picked a first time for his first career NHL goal. Bartkowski, who had played 21 career NHL games without a goal entering Monday, stepped up big with Seidenberg out. His highest time on ice total in the NHL entering the game was 16:36 on April 11, and he easily surpassed that total with well over 22:43 in regulation alone.

• The Bruins got away with one late in the first period when Chris Kelly elbowed James van Riemsdyk in the face without getting called from it. JVR was leaking from the play.

WHAT WENT WRONG FOR THE BRUINS

• Seidenberg played just 37 seconds of the game and did not play after the first two minutes. His second shift lasted just six seconds, and though he never headed down the tunnel to receive treatment, he didn’t play for the final 18:16 of the period before missing the second and third. He took a twirl during a TV timeout following Bartkowski’s goal but didn’t stay out for a shift and could be seen sitting and standing up for long periods of time on the bench while appearing to occasionally stretch his left leg. Seidenberg stayed on the bench in the second period.

• The Bruins went a span of 18:15 from the first to second period with just three shots on goal — two from Gregory Campbell and the other a point shot from Dougie Hamilton. Bergeron was given credit for a shot on goal in that span, though it didn’t reach the net and thus shouldn’t have been registered as such.

• The Bruins won 29-of-36 faceoffs through the first two periods and still didn’t manage to control the play. They had only 12 shots on goal through the first 40 minutes.

In a surprise last-minute development, Wade Redden was scratched for Game 7 against the Maple Leafs Monday night. Redden missed Game 5 with an undisclosed injury but was back in the lineup in Game 6.

Redden joins Andrew Ference as banged-up blueliners for the Bruins, who will have two veteran defense pairings and will have to skate Matt Bartkowski and Dougie Hamilton as the third pairing.

Bruins defenseman Andrew Ference is out for Game 7 against the Maple Leafs, coach Claude Julien said prior to the game on Monday.

The defenseman, who was suspended for Game 2 and also missed Game 6 due to injury, was spotted with crutches and a walking boot on his left foot by The Boston Globe’s Kevin Paul Dupont on Monday.

Dougie Hamilton was inserted into the lineup in Ference’s place on Sunday, and the Bruins will have the choice between Hamilton and Matt Bartkowski on Monday.

For more on the Bruins, visit weei.com/bruins.