NEW YORK -- It was a comeback night for the Boston
Bruins, and a comedown night for the New
York Rangers.
Dmitri Khristich scored with 1:02 remaining in the third period
to lead the Bruins to a 3-3 tie against the Rangers on Friday night.
"To pull out a point like that in the last minute is huge," said
Bruins goaltender Byron
Dafoe. "Especially on the road, it gives us extra confidence."
Don
Sweeney intercepted a clearing pass from Ulf
Samuelsson and flipped a shot from the side boards that
Khristich redirected with his stick past Rangers goaltender Mike
Richter for his seventh goal.
"I was covering the short side," Richter said. "It looked like it
slowed down a lot in front. I think it went in off of Khristich's
leg or off his stick."
The goal was dispiriting to the Rangers.
"Ties are always devastating when you're ahead," said New York's
Wayne
Gretzky, who notched a pair of assists. "It was a tough tie for
us, no question about it."
Steve
Heinze took advantage of a turnover by Niklas
Sundstrom to pull the Bruins within 3-2 with his sixth goal of
the season at 13:31 of the third period.
John
MacLean scored a pair of goals for the Rangers.
"It was that type of game, just back and forth," Boston coach Pat
Burns said as the Bruins extended their unbeaten streak to four
(2-0-2).
With New York trailing 1-0 and on a power play, MacLean
redirected a point shot by Brian
Leetch past Dafoe at 13:23 of the second period for his fifth
goal. Then, at 16:31, Leetch intercepted an errant Bruins clearing
pass, sent the puck to MacLean in the high slot and MacLean shot it
over Dafoe's glove to put the Rangers ahead 2-1.
Sundstrom gave the Rangers a 3-1 lead at 6:36 of the third period
when he deflected a right-point blast from Alexei
Kovalev past Dafoe for his third goal. Gretzky set up the play
with a seeing-eye cross-ice pass.
Boston took a 1-0 lead at 16:01 of the first period on a
power-play goal from Kyle McLaren. Richter made a pad save on a
blistering point shot from Ray
Bourque, but McLaren converted the rebound for his first goal of
the season.
Steve
Heinze took advantage of a turnover by Sundstrom to pull Boston
within 3-2 with his sixth at 13:31 of the third period.
Before the game, the Rangers presented MacLean with an award for
playing in his 1,000th NHL game last Wednesday in Florida. MacLean
is the 129th player to reach that milestone.
Copyright 1998 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or
redistributed.
|