Bruins defenseman Andrew Ference put the Bruins in a tight spot Saturday when his dangerous hit on Ryan McDonagh in overtime put the Rangers on the power play until Marian Gaborik won the game with 3.6 seconds remaining.

The play, which resulted in a five-minute charging major and a game misconduct, came when Callahan and Ference were racing for a puck behind the Rangers’ net.

“I’m obviously going as fast as I can to get to the puck, and when I realized I wasn’t going to get there first, he boxed me out,” Ference said. “I tried to lean back, but I was going too fast. Obviously it was a dangerous position. I tried to let up and didn’t let up fast enough.”

Ference might receive a call from NHL disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan over the hit, and could become the third Bruin this season to be suspended after Milan Lucic and Brad Marchand.

“I honestly haven’t seen the replay, so I don’t know how it looks,” Ference said. “I just know the intent — I feel like I’m leaning back, but obviously didn’t slow up fast enough. It’s really their call.”

Coach Claude Julien defended Ference, but spoke as though he expected the defenseman to hear from the league.

“Andrew Ference is not a dirty player,” Julien said. “He’s one of those guys that certainly supports what the league is trying to do as far as minimizing those injuries. It was a player chasing the puck, and when he did get hit, his legs were pretty far apart. There wasn’t a very good balance from the player, and it certainly resulted in an unfortunate thing. We’ll let the league look at it. They dissect things their own way, and we’re just waiting to hear from them.”

The Bruins recalled defenseman Steven Kampfer from Providence after the game. He will travel with the team to Philadelphia and play in the event that Ference is suspended prior to Sunday’s game.