Bruins Rally to Beat Capitals in Game 1 : NHL playoffs:Goal by Brian Propp with 5:22 left breaks 3-3 tie. Boston wins, 5-3.

Brian Propp was surprised when he got the puck back from Cam Neely, Boston’s top scorer. So was Washington goalie Mike Liut, who wasn’t ready for Propp’s game-winning shot.

Propp’s goal with 5:22 left on a give-and-go play broke a 3-3 tie as the Boston Bruins rallied from a 3-2 deficit for a 5-3 victory over the Capitals in the opener of their Stanley Cup semifinal series Thursday night.

“I thought Neely would shoot for sure. He was in good position,” Liut said. “Propp made a good play. He held (the puck). He froze me a little.”

Propp said the goalie “came out at me” as he passed the puck from 30 feet in front of the goal on the left side, across ice to Neely. “I thought he (Neely) would almost have an open net, but he slid it back to me.”

Propp then fired the puck from 15 feet over Liut’s stick.

It was the fourth goal of the playoffs for Propp and second assist of the game for Neely, who also had a goal.

“I didn’t have a good view of the action,” Boston Coach Mike Milbury said. “I was hoping somebody would shoot the thing. You get two good goal scorers in front of the net playing Ping-Pong. Somebody’s got to take it to the net.”

Dave Poulin added an empty-net goal with 15 seconds left, his second goal of the game. Poulin and Propp were acquired during the season in separate trades with Philadelphia.

The second game of the best-of-seven Wales Conference final is scheduled for Boston on Saturday night.

Boston, which had the NHL’s best regular-season record, won its seventh consecutive home game. Washington, whose 36-38-6 record was 13th best, had its four-game winning streak snapped.

Poulin had tied the score at 1:05 of the third period. Randy Burridge passed the puck from the left corner back to Dave Christian along the left boards. Christian fired it across to the right corner of the crease where Poulin tipped it in.

Kelly Miller, who failed on a first-period penalty shot, had broken a 2-2 tie with a shorthanded goal with 2:21 left in the second.

The unassisted goal after a bad pass from Boston’s Ray Bourque came 1:21 after Washington’s John Tucker tied the score on an unassisted goal set up by goalie Andy Moog’s bad clearing attempt.

The Bruins led 2-1 after one period on goals by Garry Galley and Neely. Washington’s John Druce got his 13th goal of the playoffs and seventh on a power play.

A seemingly harmless shot by Michal Pivonka from just in front of the red line led to Tucker’s goal. Moog saved the shot, then tried clearing it by lifting it with his stick.

Tucker caught the puck in the right circle, dropped it to the ice and fired a five-footer from the right for his first playoff goal.

Miller got his third 34 seconds after Washington’s Rob Murray was penalized for high-sticking.

Bourque tried to pass from the right corner of his zone across the slot. But Miller stopped the puck with the shaft of his stick, skated in alone and beat Moog from point-blank range.

Galley had given Boston a 1-0 lead on the game’s first shot at 1:18 of the opening period. He got his third playoff goal after Neely’s shot was deflected by Washington’s Neil Sheehy and the puck went to Galley in the right circle.

Neely got his eighth playoff goal on a power play at 18:37 of the period. He converted a pass into the slot by Craig Janney, who got his 15th playoff assist.

Miller’s penalty shot came at 2:55 of the first period after he was tripped from behind by Bourque on a breakaway.