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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The Rangers announced Wednesday that Nash, who is suffering from an undisclosed injury, will not join the club on its trip to Ottawa.

Nash has not been ruled out to rejoin the team in Montreal, however. The Rangers visit the Canadiens on Saturday at Montreal’s Bell Centre in a rematch of Tuesday’s 3-1 loss.

Nash was somewhat of a surprising scratch on Tuesday, if only because he played Sunday against the Washington Capitals. The 28-year-old Nash, who was acquired by the Rangers in a heralded trade this past summer, was questionable leading up to that game against Washington.

Nash missed a team event on Friday due to illness and missed practice the next day — the team characterized it as a maintenance day — but took warm-ups Sunday and played. He also practiced Monday but sat out with the mystery ailment on Tuesday.

Nash did not practice with the team on Wednesday.

Although the Rangers have repeatedly declined to reveal what is ailing Nash — coach John Tortorella’s most colorful response on the matter was, “None of your business” — or how serious the injury may be, it is believed that whatever is holding Nash out of the lineup is linked to a nasty hit he took last week in Boston.

Nash’s head rattled against the glass when he was slammed into the boards by Bruins forward Milan Lucic, who was not penalized on the play.

Without Nash, Marian Gaborik has moved up to the right wing position on the team’s first line, where he is playing with left wing Carl Hagelin and center Derek Stepan.

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Julien moved rising star Tyler Seguin onto a unit with David Krejci and Milan Lucic, and it produced the tying and winning goals on its first two shifts as the Bruins beat the Montreal Canadiens 2-1 on Wednesday night.

“We needed to create more scoring chances because we didn’t have many in the first two periods, so we tweaked the lines a bit and the guys responded well,” Julien said. The Bruins improved to 7-1-1 and maintained their hold on first place in the Northeast Division.

“That Krejci line’s been awesome for us but (Wednesday) they weren’t able to generate much, so I said, ‘Let’s move guys around here and give them a little spark,’ and it worked out,” Julien said. “Look at Siggy driving the net on that first goal.”

Seguin sneaked in front to take a pass from Krejci and lift it over Carey Price to tie the game only 14 seconds into the third period.

The speedy young center then slipped the puck to the left wing on a rush, and Lucic fed it in front. The onrushing Krejci got there just before Montreal center Tomas Plekanec and tipped it in at 2:05.

P.K. Subban scored his first goal of the season on a second-period power play for Montreal, which was shut down by Tuukka Rask while outshooting Boston 11-4 in the first.

The Canadiens (6-3-0) had their five-game home winning streak was snapped.

“We played well in the first period, but starting in the second, we kind of backed up,” said defenseman Andrei Markov, who picked up his ninth point in nine games. “We stopped playing our game.”

Boston outshot Montreal 23-22.

The Canadiens play Thursday night in Buffalo before facing the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night at the Bell Centre.

Julien called it the best game so far this season for Rask, who has built a 6-1-1 record as the starter while veteran Tim Thomas is on a self-assigned sabbatical.

Rask stopped Lars Eller on a breakaway 10 minutes into the game, and got a break in the second when Plekanec was in alone but lost control of the puck and shot it into the corner rather than at the net.

“He’s had the right attitude,” Julien said of his goaltender. “With the high expectations, he’s just doing his job.

“He’s a normal goaltender, which might be a surprise to a lot of people,” he said. “But he’s so easy going. There are no issues.”

The Krejci, Lucic and Nathan Horton line has been Boston’s best this season while Seguin went into the game in a slump with only one goal in the first eight games.

“I was feeling snake bitten, but I’m glad one went in and we pulled this one out,” Seguin said. “I feel I’ve been playing decently.

“I had a couple of goals called back. Things weren’t going in. But we got it going in the third,” he added.

The Canadiens did not allow the Bruins a shot on goal until the game was more than 11 minutes in, but solid saves from Rask kept it scoreless.

Subban broke the deadlock at 10:53 of the second with Lucic serving a high-sticking penalty.

The flamboyant defenseman took a pass from Markov, and saw his point shot go off Rich Peverley’s stick and past Rask. It was Subban’s first goal and third point in three games since he ended a holdout by signing a two-year contract.

The goal drew big applause from the Bell Centre crowd as Subban did the leg-lifted “Joel” pose in celebration.

It ended Boston’s string of 16 straight penalty kills to start the season.

Game notes

Price left the ice in a hurry during pregame warm-ups after he was hit in the groin area by Lars Eller’s shot, but was OK to play. … Prospect Blake Geoffrion, who fractured his skull in an AHL game at the Bell Centre during the lockout, says he feels better and will be examined by a doctor in Montreal on Thursday to see when he can resume training. … Montreal scratched Tomas Kaberle, Ryan White and Yannick Weber. … Boston was without Brad Marchand, Shawn Thornton and Daniel Paille because of injuries.

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