The Boston Bruins bounced back quite nicely against the red-hot New York Rangers on Saturday afternoon behind two goals from Milan Lucic in their 4-2 victory.

Boston jumped out to an early lead and for once extended it. They never looked back after that gobbling up an all important two points against the Blue Shirts.

It was quite the strange start to the second period as Tuukka Rask pulled himself 10 seconds in and never returned. Boston can breathe a little easier now knowing he was suffering from just dehydration.

Niklas Svedberg stepped right in stopping 16 of 18 shots thrown on him by the Rangers. The Swede stepped in nicely in his relief appearance, controlling his rebounds, moving fluidly from one post to the other and limiting New York to very few second chance opportunities.

Carl Soderberg and Reilly Smith each lit the lamp — something Bruins’ fans haven’t seen in quite some time.

Related: Bruins kick off [and end] with a break vs. Rangers

It all came together for the Black and Gold Saturday and they look to build off that on Sunday in Carolina.

The Hurricanes edged the B’s 2-1 in a shootout the last time these two teams met in Raleigh, but the B’s also notched a 2-1 victory against Carolina on November 15th at TD Garden.

Now with the Ottawa Senators loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs Saturday night, the B’s hold sole possession of the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.

Here is your complete Bruins-Hurricanes Preview:

Gametime: 5:00 PM
Records: Bruins 37-25-13 (87 points)/Hurricanes 28-36-10 (66 points)
TV/Radio: NESN, 98.5 The Sports Hub
Location: PNC Arena

Bruins’ projected lines:

Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-David Krejci
Milan Lucic-Ryan Spooner-David Pastrnak
Reilly Smith-Carl Soderberg-Loui Eriksson
Chris Kelly-Gregory Campbell-Max Talbot

Zdeno Chara-Adam McQuaid
Dennis Seidenberg-Torey Krug
Matt Bartkowski-Zach Trotman

Tuukka Rask
Niklas Svedberg

Hurricanes’ projected lines:

Eric Staal-Jordan Staal-Nathan Gerbe
Jeff Skinner-Victor Rask-Elias Lindholm
Chris Terry-Riley Nash-Alexander Semin
Brad Malone-Jay McClement-Andrej Nestrasil

Ron Hainsey-Justin Faulk
John-Michael Liles-Danny Biega
Michal Jordan-Ryan Murphy

Cam Ward
Anton Khudobin

Who to watch for Bruins: David Krejci

Whether Krejci is playing the wing or center, he makes everyone on his team better. It was evident in his return on Thursday night against the Ducks. The 28 year-old notched two assists in his return in almost 20 minutes of ice time.

Krejci was quick, had good vision and looked like he didn’t miss a beat Thursday. Although he only recorded one shot on Saturday against the Rangers, his on-ice presence makes the B’s a deeper team.

The Czech forward has only played in 40 games this season for the Black and Gold, but has notched 21 assists to go along with seven goals. It’s obvious Boston is better with Krejci in the lineup. Bruins fans better hope he can stay on the ice for the remainder of the regular season, especially with the team fighting for their playoff life.

Who to watch for Hurricanes: Eric Staal

There isn’t too much talent on the Hurricanes, but the veteran Staal is a key component for Carolina. In 69 games played this season, he has notched 21 goals and 27 assists.

In his last three games, Staal has scored two goals and has added three assists. Saturday night, the 30 year-old netted the game-winning goal against the New Jersey Devils.

If there is one player to keep tabs on Sunday evening, it’s Staal. He is a center that can force mistakes and then light the lamp.

Game Day Edge: Try for same start as Saturday

The Bruins were on a mission on Saturday afternoon at TD Garden. After the first period, the hometown crowd gave the B’s a standing ovation in what could’ve been their best period of hockey all year long. That is what it will take Sunday against the Hurricanes as well. Just because they are low in the standings doesn’t mean they can take them lightly — as evident with their shootout loss to the Sabres on St. Patrick’s Day.

The B’s need to score early and often. It was evident once they got a two goal lead their confidence was high. That hasn’t been seen in quite some time. The Black and Gold would hold a one goal lead and let the opposition hang around to eventually tie it and win it.

With points at a premium, there really is no room for error this late in the season. With the B’s putting two consecutive solid efforts together against two quality opponents, it seems their game is heading in the right direction.