Claude Julien blamed sloppiness - not work ethic - for the Bruins loss in Game 4. (Mike Petraglia/WEEI.com)

NEW YORK — There were no Jekyll and Hyde comments from Claude Julien after his team blew a 2-0 lead in the second period and lost a potential series-clinching Game 4 to the Rangers in overtime, 4-3.

To the Bruins coach, Thursday’s loss wasn’t a matter of being out-worked, just sloppiness, puck-watching and a lack of execution.

“There’s no panic here,” Julien assured everyone afterward. “Had we been out-worked and not been there at all, I’d be talking differently here. But we didn’t get out-worked. All it was our team didn’t execute as well as we have been lately. We have to go home and play a better game. But our work ethic was there. The things we did extremely well weren’t that easy tonight.”

Julien was asked about the bizarre two goals scored by New York on mistakes by Tuukka Rask [falling down] and Zdeno Chara [getting picked behind the net] and how those goals erased the 2-0 lead and allowed the Broadway Blues back in the game.

“I don’t know if it was the momentum that shifted more than… I felt we didn’t get out-worked but we didn’t play as well as we could’ve throughout the whole game, even after the first period we talked about it,” Julien said.

“But the other thing is when you give them two gift goals, eventually it’s going to hurt. So, that’s what happened. We have a 2-0 lead there and it’s looks good. But then [get] unlucky and it’s a goal and it’s gives them life again. But at the end of the day, it’s pretty simple, didn’t play well enough, not out-worked. We competed as hard as they did but we didn’t execute as well as we can.”

Rask falling down, Chara getting stripped and too many men on the ice were all mistakes that added up to disaster for the Bruins Thursday.

“I think Tuukka did the job he had to do and just Zee got stripped,” Julien said. “Again, it’s a mistake but as we often say how many does he repair versus how many does he cost. At the end of the day, those two goals certainly hurt us.”

On the Rangers power play goal, their first of the series and just third in 41 tries in the playoffs, the Bruins allowed Brian Boyle to get deep into the slot with no one covering him and score with 10 minutes left to force overtime.

“We’re 3-2 and the power play goal [happens] and it’s a mistake on our part. We’re puck-watching. We felt we were puck watching, allowing Boyle to get into the slot for an easy shot. We were a little sloppy. We weren’t as crisp as we have been in past games. Eventually, they came back and found a way to win this hockey game.”

NEW YORK — It was the blooper that will live in infamy.

Tuukka Rask lost an edge and then his balance and fell over at exactly the wrong time, allowing Carl Hagelin to score and cut Boston’s 2-0 lead in half with 11:21 left in the second period. Hagelin shook off Johnny Boychuk just enough to flip a backhander on net that Rask would’ve normally turned aside without any fanfare. But he fell backwards.

Tuukka Rask is helpless as Chris Kreider nets the game-winner Thursday night at MSG. (AP)

NEW YORK — After watching their 2-0 lead in Game 4 end in a nightmarish 4-3 overtime loss to the Rangers, the Bruins will try again to finish off the series on Saturday evening at TD Garden.

Courtesy the Boston Bruins media relations department, here are some postgame notes from Thursday night:

• The Bruins now have an 13-6 lifetime record in game fours of best-of-seven series in which they won the first three games … Of the previous 18 series in which the Bruins have held a 3-0 lead, the Rangers are the sixth team to avoid a sweep … The Bruins won two of the previous series in five games, one in six games and were taken to a seventh game twice, defeating the Rangers in the 1939 SF series in triple overtime and losing to Philadelphia in the 2010 CSF.
• They are 16-2 lifetime when leading a best-of-seven series 3-1 and they are 9-9 lifetime in game fives when leading a best-of- seven series 3-1.
• The Rangers now have a 5-6 lifetime record in game fours of best-of-seven series in which they lost the series opening three games … Of the previous ten series in which the Rangers faced an 0-3 deficit, this is the fifth time they have avoided a sweep … The Rangers lost three of the previous series in five games and extended one to seven games, losing the 1939 SF series to Boston in triple overtime.
• They are 0-15 lifetime when trailing a best-of-seven series 1-3 and they are 4-11 lifetime in game fives when trailing a best-of- seven series 1-3.

OVERTIME:
• The Bruins played their 121st lifetime playoff overtime game tonight and they now have a 52-66-3 record in playoff overtime … It was their 63rd on the road and that record currently stands at 23-39-2 … They are now 3-1 in overtime in this post-season.
• The Rangers played their 78th lifetime playoff overtime game tonight and they now have a 34-44 record in playoff overtime …
It was their 32nd on home ice and that record now stands at 15-18 … They are 3-11 in their last 14 playoff overtime contests,
including a 1-3 mark in this post-season.
• The Bruins have now played seven lifetime playoff overtime games vs. the Rangers with a 5-2 record in those contests.

WHO’S HOT:
• Nathan Horton had a goal and an assist tonight, giving him 2-3=5 totals in four of his last five games and points in eight of his last 11 games with 5-6=11 totals … It is his third multiple-point game of this post-season and the eighth of his playoff career.
• Tyler Seguin had a goal and an assist tonight, giving him 1-2=3 totals in two of his last five games … It is his first multple-point game of this post-season and the fourth of his playoff career.
• Torey Krug had a goal tonight, giving him 3-1=4 totals in three of his last four games played.
• David Krejci had an assist tonight, giving him six assists in four of his last five games and extending his league-leading 5-12=17
totals in nine of his last 11 games.
• Brad Marchand had an assist tonight, giving him 2-4=6 totals in four of his last five games with 2-6=8 totals in six of his last ten
games.
• Dougie Hamilton had an assist tonight, giving him single assists each in three of his last four games.
• Zdeno Chara had an assist tonight, giving him 2-8=19 totals in six of his last eight games.
• New York’s Derek Stepan had a goal and an assist tonight, giving him 2-1=3 totals in two of his last four games
• New York’s Derick Brassard had two assists tonight, giving him 2-10=12 totals in seven of his last nine games … It is his fourth
multiple-point game of this post-season.
• New York’s Rick Nash had an assist tonight, giving him 1-3=4 totals in four of his last five games.
• New York’s Ryan McDonagh had an assist tonight, giving him 1-2=3 totals in three of his last four games.

FUN FACTS:
• Nathan Horton and Tyler Seguin had multiple-point games tonight … They were the ninth and tenth multiple-point games by nine different Bruins in this series (Marchand, two; Chara, Bergeron, Krejci, Krug, Paille, Thornton, Horton and Seguin, one each).
• Torey Krug, Dougie Hamilton and Zdeno Chara all figured in the Boston scoring tonight and the Bruins have now gotten 14 of their 39 points (6 goals and 8 assists) in this series thus far from their blueline, including six of their 13 goals.
• Derek Stepan scored just 1:15 into the third period tonight … It was the tenth goal in a Boston game this post-season scored in the opening two minutes of a period (Toronto five and Boston two in their CQF series; New York two and Boston one in this CSF series).
• All four games of this series have now been tied after the first period, including scoreless deadlocks entering the second period in three of the four games games of this CSF.

SPECIAL TEAMS:
• The Bruins went 2 for 4 (50.0%) on the power play tonight for their second multiple power play goal game of this post-season (game four vs. Toronto) and they are now 6 for 29 on the power play in this post-season (20.7%) … They finished the regular season ranked 25th in the NHL at 18 for 122 on the power play (14.8%) and they allowed two shorthanded goals.
• The Rangers went 1 for 4 (25.0%) on the power play tonight and they are now 3 for 42 on the power play in this post-season (7.1%) … They finished the regular season ranked 23rd in the NHL at 24 for 153 on the power play (15.7%) and they allowed four shorthanded goals.
• The Bruins went 3 for 4 (75.0%) on the penalty kill tonight and they are now 29 for 35 on the penalty kill this post-season (82.9%) … They finished the regular season ranked 4th in the NHL at 142 for 163 overall on the penalty kill (87.1%) and they scored five shorthanded goals.
• The Rangers went 2 for 4 (50.0%) on the penalty kill tonight and they are now 19 for 25 on the penalty kill this post-season (76.0%) … They finished the regular season ranked 15th in the NHL at 120 for 148 on the penalty kill (81.1%) and they scored five shorthanded goals.

MILESTONES REACHED:
• Zdeno Chara had an assist tonight for his 50th career NHL playoff point.
• New York’s Micheal Haley played his first NHL playoff game tonight.

FIRST GOAL OF GAME:
• The Bruins scored the first goal of the game tonight when Nathan Horton scored at 4:39 of the second period.
• The Bruins are now 4-2 this post-season when scoring the first goal of the game … They finished the regular season with a 19-
4-3 mark this season when netting the first goal of the game.
• The Rangers are now 2-3 this post-season when allowing the first goal of the game … They finished the regular season with an
8-16-3 record this season when yielding the first goal of the game.

The Bruins suffered what had to be their ugliest loss of the playoffs Thursday at Madison Square Garden, as they blew two separate leads in the third period and instead of sweeping the Rangers suffered their first loss of the series. Chris Kreider scored in overtime to give New York a 4-3 win.

The Bruins took a 2-0 lead in the second period on goals from Nathan Horton and Torey Krug, but Carl Hagelin brought the Rangers within one on a shaky goal in which Tuukka Rask fell down. Derek Stepan tied it in the third period after taking the puck away from Zdeno Chara rather easily, and although the Bruins took the lead yet again on Tyler Seguin’s first goal of the postseason, New York tied it again on a power play goal from Brian Boyle.

The series will return to TD Garden for Saturday’s Game 5, with Game 6 taking place in New York if necessary.

WHAT WENT WRONG FOR THE BRUINS

- A too-many-men penalty right after regaining the lead in the third period of a closeout game? Win or lose, this game was going to be one of their more discouraging efforts of the season. To blow two different leads in the third period of a closeout game and take bad penalties in the process speaks to lack of focus. That was pretty apparent from the Bruins in the third period.

- The Rangers got away with one in the second period when Derick Brassard was the only one to drop his gloves. Brassard put both gloves on the ice in an attempt to get Brad Marchand to fight, but Marchand didn’t oblige. It should have been a penalty on just Brassard, but nothing was called.

- For as solid as Rask had been in this series, Game 4 was easily his worst performance. Holy moly was that Hagelin goal a bad one. It seemed like Rask simply lost his balance and fell down as he was trying to adjust with Hagelin and Boychuk drawing nearer. Until that point, Rask had only seen six shots on goal, so perhaps that helps explain the shakiness of the play.

The goal also gave the Rangers new life, as the energy both on the ice and in the stands was perilously low following Krug’s goal, but Hagelin’s tally led to some lengthier trips to offensive zone for the Rangers.

- The Bruins might want to work on their drop passes, or at least read up on to when it’s practical to do them (like when a player on your team is behind you). Two drop passes led to turnovers Thursday night, with Adam McQuaid the culprit in the first period and Rich Peverley making the error in the third.

WHAT WENT RIGHT FOR THE BRUINS

- That’s now there goals in four games for Torey Krug. Maybe now he has moved ahead of Matt Bartkowski in the pecking order for which youngsters stay un when the B’s get their injured defensemen back.

- In what’s been a rather dreadful postseason for Seguin, he had easily his most productive night of the playoffs with his third-period goal and the primary helper on Krug’s tally.