NHL playoffs: Bruins beat Blue Jackets for series lead; Sharks defeat Avalanche in Game 5

David Pastrnak scored his second goal of the game with 1:28 left to cap a wild third period, and Tuukka Rask stopped 33 shots to help the Boston Bruins beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-3 on Saturday night and take a 3-2 lead in their Eastern Conference semifinal series.

Rask got some help from the post when Matt Duchene stretched out to try to tip the tying goal in with less than a minute remaining and Blue Jackets goalie Sergei Bobrovsky off for an extra skater. In all, six goals were scored in the third, four during a 3 1/2-minute span that turned Boston’s 2-0 lead into a 3-3 tie.

Brad Marchand added a goal and two assists, and David Krejci also scored for Boston.

Bobrovsky made 32 saves for the Blue Jackets, who need a win in Game 6 on Monday night back in Columbus to force the series back to Boston for a decisive seventh game on Wednesday.

The winner will advance to the Eastern Conference finals to face the Carolina Hurricanes, who swept the New York Islanders in their series.

With Hall of Famer Bobby Orr greeting the team before the game and then watching from a box, the Bruins led 1-0 after one period and took a 2-0 lead early in the third when Connor Clifton’s crossing pass came through the crease to Marchand and he one-timed it toward the upper right corner. Bobrovsky stretched out his glove to block it, but the effort caused him to fall forward onto the ice.

Before he could right himself Marchand had corralled the rebound and shot again at the same spot — this time finding the net.

That’s when the scoring opened up.

With about 10 minutes left, Jones flipped one toward the crease and it deflected off Matt Grzelcyk’s stick and Rask’s pads to sneak inside the post. It took more than three minutes to review — and no view of the puck crossing the line was shown to the TD Garden crowd — but the goal was confirmed.

Just 43 seconds later, Pastrnak wristed the puck in from the left circle to restore Boston’s 2-goal lead. Fifty-one seconds after that, the Blue Jackets cut it to 3-2 on Ryan Dzingel’s goal and less than two minutes after that they tied it on a slapshot from the high slot by Dean Kukan.

But Pastrnak helped Boston avoid overtime when he flipped a cross-ice pass from Marchand into the goal for the game-winner.

at Sharks 2, Avalanche 1: Tomas Hertl scored his second goal of the game at 6:26 of the third period and the San Jose Sharks beat the Colorado Avalanche 2-1 in Game 5 on Saturday night to take a 3-2 lead in their Western Conference semifinal series.

Hertl tied the game with a power-play goal in the final minute of the second period and then delivered the go-ahead score early in the third for his first two goals of the series after recording six in the first round.

Martin Jones made 21 saves as San Jose held Colorado star Nathan MacKinnon to one shot on goal and ended his points streak at eight games.

The Sharks will look to clinch the series in Game 6 on Monday night in Colorado.

Tyson Jost scored the lone goal for the Avalanche, who were on their heels for most of the night. Philipp Grubauer made 37 saves.