Rangers top Bruins on Chris Kreider's shorthanded goal in third period

These are desperate times for the Rangers. They remain outside of the playoff picture, and the games are starting to dwindle down. But something is happening in their locker room; there is a swagger and a belief that seems to be returning. And the results are starting to show on the ice.

On Wednesday, for the second straight game, the Rangers trailed by a goal entering the third period at Madison Square Garden, but rallied to win. This time they beat the Boston Bruins, 3-2, thanks to a spectacular shorthanded goal by Chris Kreider with 8:06 left. It was a game that had massive implications on the race for a wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.

“Winning any which way is good for us right now,’’ said Kreider, when asked the significance of two straight come-from-behind wins. “Just trying to find a way to win. It’s been a resilient group. I think we’d rather have the lead going into the third period, and there’s some things that we’d like to do better, but it’s certainly a good sign. No quit in the group.’’

The victory improved the Rangers to 26-23-4 (56 points) and brought them within four points of the Bruins (27-23-6, 60) and Tampa Bay Lightning (28-20-4, 60), who currently hold the second wild-card spot.

“I like the resiliency in the third period in the last two games,’’ coach Peter Laviolette said. “Especially tonight, obviously the opponent, the standings, that all factored into it. We just lost in their building Saturday], so to come back and keep them from getting points and grabbing the two and moving on. I thought the third period was big.’’

Kreider scored from a sharp angle after Mike Zibanejad’s two-on-one pass hit the stick of defenseman Charlie McAvoy and ended up in Kreider’s skates. Kreider dug it out, and as his momentum was carrying him past the goal, lifted a shot over goalie Joonas Korpisalo and into the net.

Laviolette said: “It was a great pass by Mika, but I thought the pickup by Kreids . . . to be able to pick that up and still have the poise to control it on a really tough angle and put it in the back of the net, obviously, was the biggest goal tonight.’’

But it wasn’t the only big goal. The Rangers trailed 2-1 entering the third before Vincent Trocheck’s goal tied it 2-2 at 5:27 of the period, two seconds after a penalty to Brad Marchand had expired.

With goalie Igor Shesterkin (15 saves) banging his stick on the ice to let his teammates know the penalty was expiring, K’Andre Miller got the puck and the crowd yelled, “Shoot!’’ Instead, he sent a diagonal pass through a maze of bodies to the back post, where Trocheck stuck his stick blade out to redirect it in behind Korpisalo (19 saves).

“From my view, when I saw it, I’m like, ‘Holy [expletive] this is wide open,’ ’’ Trocheck said of the play. “And then I saw the replay, and it was like, he threaded the needle through a couple sticks. So a really great pass.’’

With Boston having played a game Tuesday night, the first period was decidedly low-event. The shots on goal were 8-4 Rangers, with the scoring chances 7-3 Rangers, and the high-danger chances 3-2 for the Bruins, according to Natural Stat Trick.

But the Rangers opened the scoring with a goal by Artemi Panarin at 6:07. J.T. Miller started the play when he chipped the puck into the offensive zone and then made a beeline to check defenseman Brandon Carlo into the end boards as he tried to play the puck. The puck went directly to Zibanejad, who passed it to Panarin above the right circle, and he one-timed it past Korpisalo for his 23rd goal.

But Boston stunned the Rangers with two goals 16 seconds apart to take the lead late in the period. David Pastrnak’s shot was blocked but the puck came back to him in the right circle and he calmly wristed a shot that went between defenseman Will Borgen and Boston forward Morgan Geekie, who were battling in front, and got it past Shesterkin at 15:03.

Then, on the next shift, Marchand passed it to Elias Lindholm at the top of the right circle and he took a harmless-looking shot from the outside of the circle that appeared to hit the boot of Adam Fox’s skate and got by Shesterkin to make it 2-1 at 15:19.

Notes & quotes: D Zac Jones played his first game since Dec. 23. Urho Vaakanainen was ill, so Jones took his spot on the third pair next to Braden Schneider . . . Trocheck, who is second in the league in faceoff percentage, entered having won 32 of 42 faceoffs in his last two games. He won 10 of 16 Wednesday . . . Matt Rempe tied for the team-high in shots (four), and had a game-high five hits in 8:18 of ice time . . . Will Cuylle turned 23.

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.