Tuukka Rask is helpless as Chris Kreider nets the game-winner Thursday night at MSG. (AP)

NEW YORK — After watching their 2-0 lead in Game 4 end in a nightmarish 4-3 overtime loss to the Rangers, the Bruins will try again to finish off the series on Saturday evening at TD Garden.

Courtesy of the Bruins media relations department, here are some postgame notes from Thursday night.

• The Bruins now have a 13-6 lifetime record in Game 4s of best-of-seven series in which they won the first three games. Of the previous 18 series in which the Bruins have held a 3-0 lead, the Rangers are the sixth team to avoid a sweep. The Bruins won two of the previous series in five games, one in six games and were taken to a seventh game twice, defeating the Rangers in the 1939 SF series in triple overtime and losing to Philadelphia in the 2010 CSF.

• The B’s are 16-2 lifetime when leading a best-of-seven series 3-1 and they are 9-9 lifetime in Game 5s when leading a best-of- seven series 3-1.

• The Rangers now have a 5-6 lifetime record in Game 4s of best-of-seven series in which they lost the series’ opening three games. Of the previous 10 series in which the Rangers faced an 0-3 deficit, this is the fifth time they have avoided a sweep. The Rangers lost three of the previous series in five games and extended one to seven games, losing the 1939 SF series to Boston in triple overtime.

• The Rangers are 0-15 lifetime when trailing a best-of-seven series 1-3 and they are 4-11 lifetime in Game 5s when trailing a best-of-seven series 1-3.

OVERTIME

• The Bruins played their 121st lifetime playoff overtime game, and they now have a 52-66-3 record in playoff overtime. It was their 63rd on the road and that record currently stands at 23-39-2. They now are 3-1 in overtime in this postseason.

• The Rangers played their 78th lifetime playoff overtime game, and they now have a 34-44 record in playoff overtime. It was their 32nd on home ice and that record now stands at 15-18. They are 3-11 in their last 14 playoff overtime contests, including a 1-3 mark in this postseason. Read the rest of this entry »

NEW YORK — The Bruins will try to advance to the Eastern Conference finals with a single goal in overtime after being tied, 3-3, after 60 minutes.

Here are notes heading into overtime:

OVERTIME:
• The Bruins are playing their 121st lifetime playoff overtime game tonight and they enter this extra session with a 52-65-3 record in playoff overtime … It is their 63rd on the road and that record currently stands at 23-38-2 … They are 3-0 in overtime in this post-season.
• The Rangers are playing their 78th lifetime playoff overtime game tonight and they enter this extra session with a 33-44 record in playoff overtime … It is their 32nd on home ice and that record now stands at 14-18 … They are 2-11 in their last 13 playoff overtime contests, including an 0-3 mark in this post-season.
• The Bruins are playing their seventh lifetime playoff overtime games vs. the Rangers with a 5-1 record in the previous five con- tests … The Bruins won the first game of this series in overtime when Brad Marchand scored at 15:40 of the extra session for the 3-2 win.

WHO’S HOT:
• Nathan Horton has a goal and an assist tonight, giving him 2-3=5 totals in four of his last five games and points in eight of his last 11 games with 5-6=11 totals … It is his third multiple-point game of this post-season and the eighth of his playoff career.
• Tyler Seguin had a goal and an assist tonight, giving him 1-2=3 totals in two of his last five games … It is his first multple-point game of this post-season and the fourth of his playoff career.
• Torey Krug has a goal tonight, giving him 3-1=4 totals in three of his last four games played.
• David Krejci has an assist tonight, giving him six assists in four of his last five games and extending his league-leading 5-12=17
totals in nine of his last 11 games.
• Brad Marchand has an assist tonight, giving him 2-4=6 totals in four of his last five games with 2-6=8 totals in six of his last ten
games.
• Dougie Hamilton has an assist tonight, giving him single assists each in three of his last four games.
• New York’s Derek Stepan has a goal and an assist tonight, giving him 2-1=3 totals in two of his last four games
• New York’s Derick Brassard has two assists tonight, giving him 2-10=12 totals in seven of his last nine games … It is his fourth
multiple-point game of this post-season.
Read the rest of this entry »

Torey Krug celebrates his third goal in four career playoff games. (AP)

NEW YORK — The Bruins stand 20 minutes away from their second trip to the Eastern Conference finals in three years. They received power play goals from Nathan Horton and Torey Krug to jump out to a 2-0 lead. The Rangers got one back when Tuukka Rask fell on his backside trying to skate back into his crease, allowing Carl Hagelin‘s otherwise harmless backhander to slide into the net for a Rangers goal.

Here, thanks to the Bruins media relations department, are other second period notes:

MILESTONES REACHED:
• New York’s Micheal Haley is playing his first NHL playoff game tonight.

WHO’S HOT:
• Nathan Horton has a goal and an assist tonight, giving him 2-3=5 totals in four of his last five games and points in eight of his last 11 games with 5-6=11 totals.
• Torey Krug has a goal tonight, giving him 3-1=4 totals in three of his last four games played.
• David Krejci has an assist, giving him six assists in four of his last five games and extending his league-leading 5-12=17
totals in nine of his last 11 games.
• Brad Marchand has an assist, giving him 2-4=6 totals in four of his last five games with 2-6=8 totals in six of his last ten
games.
• New York’s Derick Brassard has an assist tonight, giving him 2-9=11 totals in seven of his last nine games.

TWO-GOAL LEADS:
• The Bruins scored the game’s first two goals … It is the fourth game of this post-season in which the Bruins have held a two-goal lead in a game … They entered the game with a 3-0 record in those games, including a 1-0 mark when they have led 2-0.
• The Bruins held a two-goal lead in 21 games during the regular season with a 16-2-3 record in those contests … That included a 12-1-2 record in games in which they scored the first two goals. Read the rest of this entry »

NEW YORK — As has been the case for most of the series, the Bruins dominated in almost way and fashion in the opening 20 minutes of Game 4 Thursday night here at Madison Square Garden. And, as has been the case for most of the series, Henrik Lundqvist has kept the Rangers in the game.

The Bruins out-shot the Rangers, 12-4, with four of those 12 shots coming on an early Bruins power play.

Here, thanks to the Boston Bruins media relations department, are some other notes:

• All four games of this series have now been tied after the first period, including a scoreless deadlock entering the second period of the first and third games of this CSF.
• The Bruins have been scoreless after one period on five prior occasions in this post-season and are 2-3 in those contests.
• The Rangers have been scoreless after one period three times previously in this post-season and are 1-2 in those games.
• The Bruins are 4-3 this post-season when tied after the first period … They finished the regular season with a 13-5-1 record
when even after the first period.
• The Rangers are 2-4 this post-season when even after the first period … They finished the regular season with an 8-8-2 mark
when tied after the first period.

SPECIAL TEAMS:
• The Bruins are 0 for 1 (0.0%) on the power play following the second period tonight and they are now 4 for 26 on the power play in this post-season (15.4%) … They finished the regular season ranked 25th in the NHL at 18 for 122 on the power play (14.8%) and they allowed two shorthanded goals.
• The Rangers are 0 for 1 (0.0%) on the power play following the second period tonight and they are now 2 for 39 on the power play in this post-season (5.1%) … They finished the regular season ranked 23rd in the NHL at 24 for 153 on the power play (15.7%) and they allowed four shorthanded goals.
• The Bruins are 1 for 1 (100.0%) on the penalty kill following the second period tonight and they are now 27 for 32 on the penalty kill this post-season (84.4%) … They finished the regular season ranked 4th in the NHL at 142 for 163 overall on the penalty kill (87.1%) and they scored five shorthanded goals.
• The Rangers are 1 for 1 (100.0%) on the penalty kill following the second period tonight and they are now 18 for 22 on the penalty kill this post-season (81.8%) … They finished the regular season ranked 15th in the NHL at 120 for 148 on the penalty kill (81.1%) and they scored five shorthanded goals.

Adam McQuaid and the Bruins look for the knockout punch Thursday night in Game 4. (Mike Petraglia/WEEI.com)

NEW YORK — Short and sweet.

That’s the way both coaches kept their press conferences on Thursday before Game 4 and that’s the way the Bruins would like to wrap up their Eastern Conference semifinal series tonight at Madison Square Garden.

“We’re here to win a hockey game tonight,” Claude Julien said at the beginning of his 98-second press briefing. “We’re going to do whatever it takes.”

Julien’s press conference was about a minute longer than John Tortorella‘s press briefing with reporters, that was limited to two questions.

Speaking of Julien, the Bruins coach was asked about the importance of the home crowd at MSG, and keeping the New York fans on their hands.

“As important as it has been in every game,” Julien said. “Whether at home or away, you get the crowd in or crowd out. That’s not going to change.

“I think we want to play a 60-minute game. That just shows the character of our guys playing hard right ot the end. It’s a great thing to have and you hope you can keep it.”

Brad Richards has been informed that he’s been benched for tonight as a healthy scratch and Aaron Asham is likely to sit out as well.

“It doesn’t matter to me,” Julien said.

“I think it’s going to be more difficult just because they’re going to have two players who are going to step in there and want to change the game and they’ll probably be their two best players tonight,” Daniel Paille said. “It’ll most likely going to be a low-scoring game and make sure we’re not panicking out there and stay focused on our system and things will go well for us.”

As for Dennis Seidenberg and Wade Redden, both of whom skated with the team Thursday, Julien said he won’t reveal anything until game time.

“Our lineups will be on the ice tonight for warmups and that’s all I’m going to say about that,” Julien said.

As for the players, they’re taking the typical one-game-at-a-time approach.

“I don’t think we focus too much on sweeping,” Paille said. “We focus more on today. Obviously, it’s great to look at on paper but there’s a lot that goes into that. Everyone is in a confident, positive attitude and we want to continue that trend today.”
Read the rest of this entry »

John Tortorella held a very brief press conference Thursday morning before Game 4. (AP)

NEW YORK — Maybe it’s the pressure of being down 3-0 to a superior team. Maybe it’s the fact he knows his team is cooked. Or maybe, just maybe, John Tortorella has absolutely nothing of value to say to reporters hours before a game that could end his season and his tenure with the Rangers.

Whatever the reason, Tortorella needed just 19 seconds Thursday to dismiss any questions from reporters before his team’s morning skate here at Madison Square Garden.

Reporters asked just two questions and then became hushed.

Here were the two questions and answers:

Any update on defenseman Anton Stralman, after he was knocked out of Game 3 in the third period?

“No. No updates,” Tortorella said.

What do you tell your team before a game like this?

“I’ve talked to them. I don’t need to talk about it here,” he responded.

After six seconds of silence, Tortorella uttered the word “OK” and exited stage right.

Game 4 is Thursday night (CNBC, 7 p.m.).

Claude Julien is poised for a Bruins sweep in New York. (Mike Petraglia/WEEI.com)

NEW YORK — The Bruins have the look of a very confident team right now, as well they should being up 3-0 in the Eastern Conference semifinals and getting stronger and stronger with each game.

But Claude Julien knows full well he’s going to hear plenty about being up 3-0 in 2010 against the Flyers and 3-1 against the Maple Leafs last round, showing incredible difficulty in closing out in both cases.

“I think we live in the moment,” Julien said, sounding a highly philosophical tone. “You learn from the past but you live in the moment but you don’t live in the past. So, right now, we’re living in the moment. I like where our team is right now.

“The attitude, the approach and we’re certainly not looking at it the way all the people are going to look at it and try and find reasons to give New York some hope and say, ‘Look these guys have done this and these guys have had trouble doing this.’ We’re certainly not even going there. We’re looking at the present right now and the present is getting prepared to play a real good game [Thursday], kind of like we played [Tuesday].”

Julien, repeating the theme of taking nothing for granted, said a closeout of the Rangers will require an effort as good – if not better than – Tuesday’s performance in Game 3.

“I think if we don’t take the same attitude as we took [Tuesday], then we shouldn’t expect to win the hockey game,” Juilen said.

Other notes from Wednesday’s practice:

It was a light turnout for a laid-back practice on the ice as Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, Zdeno Chara, Andrew Ference, Rich Peverley, David Krejci, Daniel Paille, Adam McQuaid, Johnny Boychuck, Nathan Horton and Milan Lucic all had the day off from skating. Bergeron and Marchand were among those working on their hand-eye skills with a soccer ball in the hallway outside the Bruins dressing room.

Tyler Seguin, Jaromir Jagr, Dennis Seidenberg, Wade Redden, Chris Kelly, Dougie Hamilton, Torey Krug, Jay Pandolfo, Kaspars Daugavins Aaron Johnson were among those taking part.

The Bruins skated for about 40 minutes before calling it a day.

Claude Julien said both Seidenberg and Redden are making significant progress each day and their status will be evaluated Thursday. Meanwhile, Ference (lower body), who hasn’t played since Game 5 against Toronto, is still nursing an injury that has put him on the sidelines indefinitely.

“He’s doing OK,” Julien said. “He’s improving although you haven’t seen him on the ice. Better. I haven’t talked to our trainers about his return date to the ice but I think it’s getting closer all the time.”