Trailing by three goals in the third period and still by two with less than 90 seconds left in their season, the Bruins scored twice in a span of 31 seconds to tie it and then eliminated the Maple Leafs on Patrice Bergeron’s goal at 6:05 of overtime to win 5-4 in Game 7 on Monday night.

“It was one of the crazy ones I’ve been part of,” said Bergeron, who assisted on Milan Lucic’s goal with 1:22 in regulation and scored to tie it with 51 seconds left in the third. “We found a way, not necessarily the way we would have liked to play the whole game.”

Tuukka Rask stopped 24 shots for Boston, which led the best-of-seven series 3-1 before the Maple Leafs won two in a row to force a seventh game.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Bruins are the first team in NHL history to win a Game 7 after trailing by three goals in the third period.

The Bruins will play the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference semifinals. The Bruins will host Games 1 and 2 on Thursday and Sunday before traveling to New York for Games 3 and 4 on May 21 and 23.

Toronto opened a 4-1 lead in the third period of the decisive game, but Nathan Horton cut the deficit to two midway through the third period and then Lucic and Bergeron scored in the final 1:22 with Rask on the bench for an extra skater.

“Anything can happen,” Lucic said, “and that’s exactly what happened.”

Cody Franson scored twice, and former Bruin Phil Kessel had a goal and an assist for Toronto. James Reimer made 30 saves for the Maple Leafs.

But it was the one he missed that left him sprawled in the crease, face down, while the Bruins celebrated.

“I was trying to be pretty even-keeled,” said Reimer, who was teary-eyed in the locker room after the game. “There was time left, they could come back and they did. When you’re up 4-1 you’d like to be able to hold onto that lead.”

Toronto hadn’t been to the playoffs since 2004, but some of the players had: forward James van Riemsdyk was on the Philadelphia team that rallied from a 3-0 deficit to eliminate the Bruins in the 2010 Eastern Conference semifinals.

This time the comeback fell short.

“It’s tough to stay composed,” Franson said. “Any type of playoff experience will help us [next season]. But unfortunately we’ve got to live through this the whole summer. Anytime you get knocked out of the playoffs, it hurts.”

The win completed a whipsaw of a weekend for Boston, which won Games 3 and 4 in Toronto last week to put the Maple Leafs on the brink of elimination, but failed to clinch at home on Friday and again in Game 6 when the series returned to the Air Canada Centre.

The Bruins found out during the game that their plane had mechanical difficulties, so they returned to their Toronto hotel and flew back to Boston on Monday morning, just hours before the game.

“They had us on the ropes and we’re glad we’re done with them,” Bruins coach Claude Julien said. “Drained is obviously the key word. The emotions of this game had us going in all directions.”

The Bruins appeared tired in the early part of the game, spotting Toronto a 4-1 lead on Nazem Kadri’s goal at 5:29 of the third period.

But Bergeron flicked one in with 51 seconds left, then ended it when he picked up a rebound to Reimer’s left and put it over the sprawling goaltender to send his teammates pouring over the boards and the crowd into a frenzy.

Or, at least, those who stayed: Hundreds if not more had left in the third period, then begged security to get back into the TD Garden after the Bruins rallied.

Bergeron, who had only one goal in the first six games, had two goals and his first assist of the playoffs. Lucic had a goal — his second — and an assist, and Tyler Seguin had an assist for his first point of the postseason.

The Bruins took a 1-0 lead 5:39 into the game when Franson, against the boards in his own zone, flicked the puck back between his legs right to Matt Bartkowski.

But the Maple Leafs defenseman made up for it when he tied the score four minutes later, backhanding a loose puck into the net off a rebound.

Franson gave Toronto the lead at 5:48 of the second when, then Kessel made it 3-1 two minutes into the third when he tapped in a rebound in the crease.

The announcement of Kessel’s name brought a chorus of boos from the Boston fans, who feel he never reached his potential after the Bruins picked him fifth overall in the 2006 draft.

But mostly the fans booed their own team before turning around late with chants of “Let’s Go Bruins!” and “U.S.A.!”

Game notes

The only time Toronto won a series it trailed 3-1 was in the 1942 Stanley Cup finals against the Detroit Red Wings. The Maple Leafs actually lost the first three games then. … Boston’s top regular-season goal scorers, Brad Marchand (18 goals), and Seguin (16), had no goals and just two assists before they both assisted on Bergeron’s game-winner. … Rookie Boston defenseman Matt Bartkowski appeared in his second playoff game, replacing Wade Redden. Another Bruins defenseman, Andrew Ference, missed his second straight game with an undisclosed injury. Ference also missed Game 2 on a one-game suspension for hitting Mikhail Grabovski in the head in Game 1. … Dennis Seidenberg, the Bruins’ No. 2 defenseman, played only 37 seconds before limping off following a leg-on-leg collision with Matt Frattin.

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Brodeur made 24 saves for his 120th NHL shutout, Ilya Kovalchuk scored on a short-handed penalty shot, and the Devils won their home opener in front of an enthusiastic sellout crowd with a 3-0 victory over the winless Flyers on Tuesday night.

It was the first meeting between the long-time divisional rivals since New Jersey eliminated Philadelphia in five games in the Eastern Conference semifinals. The Devils again had the Flyers’ number and beat them for a fifth straight time.

Travis Zajac and David Clarkson scored first-period goals to provide all the offense Brodeur would need en route to his 10th shutout of the Flyers.

“It was a long time coming,” Brodeur said. “I thought we had a great run in the playoffs, and our fans were great. With the lockout, we didn’t know how these fans would respond. They showed tremendous support.

“I thought we played pretty good and gave them some excitement. Hockey is back in New Jersey, I guess.”

The Flyers dropped to 0-3, matching their worst start since they also lost their first three games in the lockout-shortened 1995 season.

Philadelphia rebounded that year to win the Atlantic Division, and the Devils won their first Stanley Cup championship that season with Brodeur in goal.

“It’s not time to panic, but we have to tighten the screws,” Flyers goalie Ilya Bryzgalov said. “After the bad start we can’t keep losing games anymore because you will never get out from the bottom of the standings because you don’t have enough games.

“That’s why we have to be with the attitude that’s it’s the playoffs.”

The 40-year-old Brodeur was in postseason form, especially in the first period when he stopped all nine Flyers shots.

“It shows how good an athlete he is,” Clarkson said of Brodeur. “Marty is one of the best athletes I’ve played with. It’s impressive to see him at that age doing what he’s doing and having fun doing it. He makes us a better team every night.”

The Devils had only three shots in the first period, but Zajac and Clarkson scored. That duo also had goals in the Devils’ 2-1 season-opening win over the Islanders on Saturday.

“They only had three shots so I don’t think we played bad hockey,” Flyers forward Max Talbot said. “The only thing we can do is keep working hard. It would be easy to panic. It’s about work ethic. Yes, it’s three games and we don’t have a point but we need to keep working and battling.”

Kovalchuk, who played in Russia during the lockout and was a little late in getting back for training camp, brought the crowd of 17,650 to its feet on the Devils’ fourth shot of the game early in the second period. He was hooked by defenseman Kimmo Timonen on a semi-breakaway and was awarded a penalty shot at 2:44.

The 29-year-old Kovalchuk wasted no time once the puck was put down at center ice. He skated quickly at Bryzgalov and beat him with a backhander to the upper part of the net for his first goal of the season.

“It’s a 50-50 chance and I was fortunate to score,” Kovalchuk said. “He’s a big goalie and I knew he would go down if I faked him. I beat him this time, but it’s a long season.”

The only question after that was whether Brodeur would add to his career-leading shutout total. Wayne Simmonds had the best scoring chance with a shot from the right circle that had Brodeur out of position. However, the 19-year veteran slid across the crease and made a pad save.

It must have frustrated Simmonds because he bumped Brodeur after another glove save later in the period, sparking a little melee. Clarkson and Simmonds traded punches in a third-period scuffle.

“I didn’t hit him too hard,” Simmonds said. “I just gave him a little push that I kind of thought he over exaggerated, and it worked. He is one of the best goalies who ever played. He can do whatever he wants in this league.”

The Flyers held New Jersey without a shot for a 12:25 span in the first period but still trailed 2-0.

Zajac gave the Devils the lead after only 67 seconds. The center who signed a $46 million contract last week, stopped a point shot by Bryce Salvador right at Bryzgalov’s doorstep and tucked the puck around the goalie into an open net.

Clarkson extended the lead to 2-0 with 24.9 seconds left in the opening period with a fluky power-play goal. He centered the puck from the side of the net, and it hit off the stake of Flyers forward Ruslan Fedotenko and caromed into the net.

Brodeur had three excellent saves in the opening 20 minutes. He made a skate save on a point shot by defenseman Andrej Meszaros, stopped Fedotenko on a rebound, and made a one-on-one stop against Scott Hartnell with the Flyers coming at him in waves.

Game notes

Brodeur also has 10 shutouts against the Islanders. … Kovalchuk’s goal was the Devils’ first short-handed, penalty-shot score since Zach Parise had one on Oct. 21, 2011 vs. San Jose. … Kovalchuk has scored on three of four penalty shots in his career. … New Jersey is 17-8-5 in home openers. … Tye McGinn, recalled from Adirondack of the AHL on Monday, made his NHL debut for the Flyers. He replaced Zac Rinaldo who sustained a cut to his right thigh against Buffalo on Sunday. … Philadelphia RW Danny Briere missed his third straight game. He broke his left wrist playing overseas during the lockout. … Former Islanders D Bruno Gervais, who signed as a free agent during the offseason, made his Flyers debut.

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