OT Hero: Excited Rangers come over to mob Chris Kreider following his Game Four overtime goal that forced Game Five. Getty Images/Frank Franklin II

The Rangers needed a miracle of sorts. They got it thanks to a bizarre play from Tuukka Rask. Already down two with nothing going, Carl Hagelin’s harmless backhand roller got by a fallen Rask to breathe life back into an eerily quiet MSG. The Bruins led on a pair of power play goals from Nathan Horton and Torey Krug. Krug had just scored to put them ahead two. But instead of burying the Rangers for good, Rask’s fall sparked an improbable comeback. They rallied from 2-0 and 3-2 deficits, finally winning on Chris Kreider’s goal 7:03 into overtime to prevail 4-3 over Boston in Game Four.

Astonishingly, the Rangers are still alive. It took one of the oddest goals in the playoffs along with a lot of determination and guts. But they finally solved Rask, beating him four times including a fancy Kreider finish off a great feed from Rick Nash to extend the Eastern Conference Semifinal series. There’ll be a Game Five at TD Garden Saturday. The task doesn’t get any easier with the Bruins having the chance to close it out in front of their fans. The Rangers will look to avoid elimination and force Game Six back at home.

Much like the first three games of the series, the Bruins spent most of the first period attacking the Rangers with a relentless forecheck, outshooting them 12-4. They took the crowd out of it early by continuing to mount pressure. Only Henrik Lundqvist prevented them from surging ahead. He stopped all dozen shots keeping it scoreless.

The Rangers ran into penalty trouble in the second. Consecutive penalties by Kris Newbury and Mike Del Zotto put them in a deep hole. After Newbury was called for goalie interference, the Bruins connected when Nathan Horton cashed in on a loose puck that deflected off a sliding Del Zotto. He caught Lundqvist off balance for his fifth. David Krejci and Brad Marchand helped set it up. Already up one, they scored a second straight power play goal. This time, Del Zotto was the guilty party for interference. It was more conventional with Krug continuing his assault by firing a laser top shelf for his third of the series. Horton and Tyler Seguin added helpers.

At that critical point, the Rangers had nothing going. They had only eight shots and couldn’t sustain a consistent attack. That’s when the hockey Gods gave them a boost. Taking a pass from Derick Brassard, Hagelin flubbed a weak backhand towards a stumbling Rask. The play seemed to be in slow motion. Unable to recover in time, Rask watched helplessly as the puck went into the net. Suddenly, MSG was alive. In a role reversal, the Blueshirts started taking it to the Bruins. They came close to tying it a couple of times. With Jaromir Jagr off for tossing Derek Stepan down, Nash was thwarted twice by Rask. The Bruins nursed a one-goal lead into intermission.

The third very well could’ve been their last. But the Rangers weren’t ready to die. Some hustle from Stepan resulted in him tying it 1:15 in. Off strong pressure from Nash, Stepan snuck up and stripped the puck from Zdeno Chara stuffing in a wraparound past Rask for his fourth. The unassisted tally got MSG buzzing. They nearly went ahead on a Brassard try that drew iron. Instead, an unpredictable game saw the Bruins basically cash in on a Ryan McDonagh goaltender interference. Following a strong Ranger kill, Chara and Dougie Hamilton combined to set up Seguin’s first. They led 3-2 with 11:54 remaining.

But as they had proven already, a determined Blueshirts rose up again. Boston was called for a bench minor. To that point, the Ranger power play had fired blanks. They were down to 2-for-40. For once, it came through when Brian Boyle finished off his third from Stepan and Brassard. Brassard dropped for Stepan in the corner, who found Boyle wide open in the slot for an actual power play goal, which tied the game 3-3 with 10 minutes left in regulation. Each team tried to go ahead but to no avail with both netminders making big stops, forcing sudden death.

Unlike Game One, OT was more even with the Rangers getting plenty of opportunities to win it. In fact, both sides had a pair of seven shots. But it was the Rangers Lucky 7 that proved to be the difference. Following a Bruins flurry that included a huge Lundqvist pad denial on Jagr, Stepan beat Krejci on a defensive draw and McDonagh sent Nash in with Kreider. Nash went around Chara and made a sweet dish for a cutting Kreider, who beat Hamilton for a neat redirection for his first of the postseason. That finally got the monkey off the back for the Rangers’ first OT win of the playoffs.

NY Puck 3 Stars:

3rd Star-Rick Nash, NYR (set up Kreider’s winner, 5 SOG, +2 in 22:59-made a big play)
2nd Star-Chris Kreider, NYR (scored OT winner at 7:03-was flying all night and deserved it)
1st Star-Henrik Lundqvist, NYR (37 saves incl. 12/12-Hank made it possible)