Yandle, Lundqvist Lead Rangers Over Bruins 5-2

Keith Yandle set up two first-period power-play goals and Henrik Lundqvist made 39 saves and the New York Rangers beat Boston 5-2 on Wednesday night, sending the Bruins to a season-high fourth straight loss.

Mats Zuccarello, Derek Stepan, Derick Brassard, J.T. Miller and Rick Nash scored for New York, which won its second straight and inched a little closer to securing a spot in the playoffs with eight games left in the regular season.

Lee Stempniak, who had a first-period tally disallowed after an offside review and another shot gloved off the line by Lundqvist in the third period, scored for the Bruins along with Frank Vatrano. The Bruins have five goals in their skid.

The Bruins could not catch a break in this one, either with the replays or the officials. They gave the Rangers the first five man-power advantages, and New York converted on two of the first three in a game in which it was outshot 41-24.

Yandle was the key on both goals, making pinpoint passes to set up Zuccarello's 24th at 8:37 and Stepan's 17th a little more than three minutes later.

The turning point for Boston came between the goals. Stempniak seemly tied the game at 9:05, putting a rebound past Lundqvist.

The Rangers asked for a review and it showed Brad Marchand preceding the puck into the zone, nullifying the tally.

Fans entering the game at Madison Square Garden got a `Zucc Gnome' in a Rangers' giveaway, and the forward didn't disappointment them. He beat Tuukka Rask from low in the right circle after taking a great pass from Yandle with Jimmy Hayes off for slashing.

Boston coach Claude Julien felt a deflection by Chris Kreider on the power play hit the netting, but the officials didn't see it.

Stepan had an empty net to shoot at for a 2-0 lead after Yandle beat both Zdeno Chara and Patrice Bergeron and found him alone at the right side of the net.

Brassard scored his 26th of the season at 5:26 of the second period with a slap shot into the top corner of the net against Jonas Gustavsson, who replaced Rask at the start of the second period.

Stempniak got his good goal at 9:34 of the second period on a 2-on-0 with Marchand, but Miller iced the game early in the third on a nice setup by Stepan.

Vatrano, who was called up from AHL Providence on Tuesday, scored with less than eight minutes to play. Nash added an empty-net goal with 2:53 left, his second in as many games.

NOTES: D Dan Girardi played in his 719th game with the Rangers, tying him with the late Andy Bathgate for 10th place on the franchise's all-time games played list. ... Rangers Tanner Glass and Bruins Matt Belesky had a quicky first-period fight: Advantage Glass. ... Yandle has points in seven straight games against Boston (eight assists). ... Stepan is the second Rangers player to record 40 points in each of his first six NHL seasons. Steve Vickers was the other. ... Shortly after Bruins captain Zdeno Chara took exception to being checked by J.T. Miller, he picked up four minutes for high sticking Rangers' Jesper Fast. ... Boston is 8-3-2 in its past 13 with the Rangers.