Shootout: The Bruins’ comeback is foiled in the shootout, as the Rangers hang on for the two points.
Here’s how it went down.
Round 1:
Tyler Seguin stopped by Henrik Lundqvist
Marian Gaborik stopped by Tuukka Rask
Round 2:
Patrice Bergeron stopped by Henrik Lundqvist
Rick Nash scores
Round 3:
Brad Marchand scores
Brad Richards stopped by Tuukka Rask
Round 4:
David Krejci stopped by Henrik Lundqvist
Ryan Callahan scores
End overtime, 3-3: The Bruins got a scare late, but they come up big when they need to.
First it was Gregory Campbell diving in front of a Dan Girardi shot to keep it from getting to the net. The ricochet went to Carl Hagelin, who blasted it from the point, but Tuukka Rask turns it away with a pad save to send it to a shootout.
Overtime, 3:00, 3-3: The Rangers get a chance of their own, as Ryan McDonagh jumps into the play and into the slot, but he misses the net on a one-time shot in front.
Overtime, 1:15, 3-3: It’s been all Bruins in the first minute of overtime, and the Garden is absolutely rocking right now. This is arguably the loudest it’s been in here all year.
End third period, 3-3: Overtime it is.
Third period, 19:19, 3-3: These Bruins. Wow.
They improbably tie things up with just seconds to play, and we are headed to overtime. Brad Marchand scores from the right dot, putting home a rebound after Patrice Bergeron’s shot is blocked by Ryan McDonagh. It went right to a waiting Marchand.
Third period, 18:29, Rangers 3-2: The Bruins are still alive, as Nathan Horton gets the B’s within one.
Horton shoveled home a rebound in front of the net, and the Bruins only trail by one now.
Third period, 17:14, Rangers 3-1: The Rangers just did a nice job of maintaining pressure on the forecheck, and it served to kill some precious time off of the clock as they hold the two-goal lead.
Third period, 15:44, Rangers 3-1: The Rangers continue to make it difficult for the Bruins to even get pucks to the net, let alone get another by Henrik Lundqvist.
The only shots the B’s have really put on goal since the Krejci goal were attempts Lundqvist could handle with ease.
The Rangers are now up to 21 blocked shots, with five apiece for Dan Girardi and Ryan McDonagh, as well as four from Marc Staal.
Third period, 8:44, Rangers 3-1: The Bruins finally get on the board, and it’s not actually a power-play goal, but it might as well have been.
David Krejci is there to scoop up a rebound after another dazzling Henrik Lundqvist save, and he backhands it by the goalie for Boston’s first goal. The score came just as the Rick Nash penalty expires, and it gives the Bruins some much-needed life — not to mention a goal.
Third period, 6:43, Rangers 3-0: Milan Lucic starts to assert himself physically, and it pays off for the Bruins — sort of.
Lucic put a pretty good hit on Rick Nash behind the Rangers net that upset the New York sniper. The two of them got tangled up, and as Lucic moved toward the front of the net, Nash eventually took a hooking penalty as Boston attacked the net.
So the Bruins, down three, have a power play, which is what it is, given their power-play situation.
Third period, 2:07, Rangers 3-0: Now it’s going to be very, very difficult for the Bruins to come back and win this game.
Anton Stralman beats Tuukka Rask with a goal that, quite frankly, the Bruins need Rask to stop. Stralman just put the puck on net from the right dot, and Rask got a piece of it before the puck jumped over his right pad and rolled over the goal line.
Second period reaction: It has not been a good 40 minutes for the Bruins, as they compounded a quiet first period with a sloppy second period.
The defensive effort — in their own zone, at least — hasn’t been awful, but overall, they have just been out of sorts.
We’ve seen a few costly turnovers like the Milan Lucic one that led to the Derek Stepan goal, and we’ve seen some bad penalties like the Brad Marchand cross-check that will give the Rangers more than a minute of 5-on-3 on fresh ice to open the third.
This game should be just about out of reach, too, but the Bruins did get a little bit of luck late in the second when Rick Nash rang the left post, keeping it at 2-0. However, with the way that Henrik Lundqvist is playing (23 saves through two), combined with the New York shot-blocking efforts (16 already), it’s going to be difficult for the Bruins to get back into this.
It will be interesting to see if Claude Julien goes back to the well for the third period and changes up his lines again. No one has been particularly impressive, including that top line with Lucic and Krejci both a minus-2 through the first 40 minutes.
End second period, Rangers 2-0: The Bruins have their work cut out for them in the third period.
The Bruins will have to kill off 1:03 of 5-on-3 after Brad Marchand got a cross-checking penalty of his own in the final minute to go along with Milan Lucic’s high-stick.
The B’s almost cut the lead in half when Patrice Bergeron came flying out of the zone all alone with a shorthanded bid, but Henrik Lundqvist comes up with a huge save to keep the shutout intact.
Second period, 19:02, Rangers 2-0: Milan Lucic goes to the penalty box for high-sticking.
He got his money’s worth, catching Ryan McDonagh flush in the face.
Second period, 16:09, Rangers 2-0: The Bruins were just able to get some good puck possession in the New York end, but they seemed to get a little unlucky.
After holding the puck for what seemed like forever without getting a shot on goal (the Rangers blocked a couple of shots), Johnny Boychuk unleashed one from the point. It sounded like it hit either the crossbar or the post before deflecting out of play.
Second period, 11:09, Rangers 2-0: The Bruins look out of sorts again, and even a little bit flat in their return home.
They came up empty on another power play after Marc Staal was given an interference penalty, and there wasn’t much in terms of scoring chances for the Bruins with the man-advantage.
They’re still outshooting the Rangers — 21-14 — but there haven’t been a ton of scoring chances.
You get the feeling that the B’s are still waiting for one big shift to get them going, with the hopes of sustaining any sort of momentum. So far, though, that’s been missing.
Second period, 11:43, Rangers 2-0: Sloppy play hurts the Bruins in a big way, as the Rangers get the two-goal lead.
Milan Lucic makes a poor pass, leaving it behind Dougie Hamilton in a cross-ice neutral-zone pass, and Derek Stepan is the one who benefits. He picks up the puck in the neutral zone, walks in on the left wing and puts one over Tuukka Rask’s right shoulder for the two-goal lead.
Second period, 7:20, Rangers 1-0: Once again, nothing doing for the Bruins’ power play.
They did have a few chances on that one, thanks in large part to Rich Peverley, who is having a nice game.
But it’s all about results, and the Bruins haven’t gotten any in this one.
Second period, 4:10, Rangers 1-0: The Bruins get another chance on the power play, this time coming from a Rangers’ mental mistake.
The Blueshirts get the too many men on the ice penalty. That will be served by J.T. Miller.
Second period, 0:01, Rangers 1-0: The second period is on.
First period reaction: If the stats are to be believed, the Bruins are in trouble.
The Rangers are 4-0-0 when scoring the first goal, and that’s exactly what they did in the first period, thanks in large part to Rick Nash.
He showed his incredible strength with the puck in setting up the Carl Hagelin goal, and he did so while falling to the ice. It goes without saying probably that this was the reason they brought him in.
The goal was helped along by suspect defense from both Andrew Ference and Adam McQuaid. Ference couldn’t slow Nash, who stepped around him, while McQuaid got caught looking at that play while likely readying himself to give help. In the process, he let Hagelin sneak in behind him.
Offensively, the Bruins’ best chance may have come in the game’s first minute, when David Krejci fired a shot from the high slot, which Henrik Lundqvist turned away with a glove deflection. The B’s also got something going midway through the period with a pair of scoring chances from the Patrice Bergeron line, with Tyler Seguin coming close to scoring each time. The B’s have outshot the Rangers 11-8, but they’ve yet to figure out Lundqvist, which is something a lot of teams have had the misfortune of saying over the years.
The power play couldn’t convert its first opportunity, but in the Bruins’ defense, it was only 41 seconds of power play. That’s because Seguin got called for hooking. Boston killed off the two New York penalties, and high marks go to Rich Peverley for his work on the second one, killing a good portion of the power play by himself in the Rangers’ offensive end.
End first period, Rangers 1-0: The first period comes to an end, with no more scoring, and the Rangers take the 1-o lead to intermission.
The B’s did a good job of killing off the McQuaid penalty, thanks in large part to a great individual effort from Rich Peverley, who put some relentless pressure on the Rangers in their own zone to slow the breakout chances.
First period, 14:47, Rangers 1-0: Adam McQuaid was getting into it with Chris Kreider, and that carried over after a whistle.
McQuaid started pushing and shoving Kreider in front of the net, and he did a little bit too much, apparently, as he gets called for roughing.
First period, 14:24, Rangers 1-0: The Bruins have looked fairly decent in the early going despite trailing. They’ve been pretty good in their own end, aside from the goal, which really was a product of Rick Nash more than anything else, although Ference and McQuaid didn’t help.
The B’s are actually outshooting the Rangers 9-5 with 5:36 to play, but Henrik Lundqvist is Henrik Lundqvist.
First period, 10:37, Rangers 1-0: The Rangers get on the board first thanks to a terrific effort from Rick Nash.
The big forward carried the puck into the Boston zone, stepped around Andrew Ference, and while Adam McQuaid got caught looking at the play, Nash passed it across to Carl Hagelin. He was left with a pretty wide open net, and he buried the chance to give the Rangers the early lead.
Nash is just so strong with the puck. That, paired with some suspect defense, is what led to that goal.
First period, 9:34, 0-0: The Bruins come out of the TV timeout with some jump, and that’s personified when Adam McQuaid drills Darroll Powe behind the Bruins’ net.
It looked like noted tough guy Arron Asham said a few words to the Boston defenseman, but McQuaid didn’t engage as he skated back to the bench.
First period, 7:02, 0-0: The Bruins get the game’s first real opportunities, with both scoring chances coming on the same shift.
First it was a pass through the crease from Patrice Bergeron to Tyler Seguin, which the latter couldn’t quite handle. Brad Marchand kept the play alive with some aggressive forechecking, and that allowed a mini 2-on-1 with him and Seguin, but Henrik Lundqvist was able to stop Seguin to keep things scoreless.
First period, 6:19, 0-0: Both teams kill off the respective penalties. If you were paying attention to our pregame entries, that probably comes as no surprise.
First period, 3:45, 0-0: That didn’t last long. The Bruins’ power play comes to an abrupt end — not with a goal, but with a penalty of their own.
Tyler Seguin gets called for hooking. It hurts even more, as the penalty came in the offensive zone.
First period, 3:03, 0-0: The Bruins will get their first crack on the power play, when Darroll Powe flips the puck over the glass in his own zone for the delay of game.
First period, 0:01, 0-0: The Garden is rocking, and we’re under way from TD Garden. Thanks for joining us. Let’s do it.
7:27 p.m.: We’re still 10-15 minutes from puck drop, so let’s digest a few statistics, shall we?
First of all, don’t expect too much in the way of power-play goals. The Bruins have obviously had their power-play struggles, but they’re actually better than the Rangers, at least statistically. They’re only better by 0.4 percent, but hey, it’s better.
The team who scores first in this one will likely come away with the win, as both teams are undefeated when scoring first. The Bruins are 5-0-0, while the Rangers are 4-0-0 when potting the first goal.
The Bruins are wearing their alternate sweaters in this one. They’re 2-0-0 when they do that, but then again, they’re 6-1-1 when wearing anything else, so it really doesn’t matter which jersey they’re wearing.
7:09 p.m.: It looks like things are indeed “back to normal” for the Bruins’ top lines.
Nathan Horton is back on the de facto first line alongside David Krejci and Milan Lucic, while Tyler Seguin is skating with Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron.
6:48 p.m.: At last, I have arrived at TD Garden, where the traffic situation around the building could only be described as a nightmare.
It’s probably a very good thing that they postponed Saturday night’s game, as getting into the area without public transportation might have literally been impossible.
But it’s good to be back at the Garden, where the Bruins are making a rare appearance.
The B’s only had three scheduled home games in February, and that’s obviously now down to two with the Lightning game being pushed back to April. This is also the first time the Bruins will have played in front of a home crowd since Jan. 31, when they suffered their only regulation loss of the season against the Sabres.
4:10 p.m.: There’s still more than three hours until game time at the Garden, which is kind of a bummer, given the fact that this one should be another dandy.
According to the Bruins’ Twitter account, Claude Julien is doing more line juggling, this time getting back to the way the team started the season. According to morning skate line combinations, the top line of David Krejci, Milan Lucic and Nathan Horton is back together, as is the second line of Patrice Bergeron, Tyler Seguin and Brad Marchand.
That’s obviously kind of interesting, given the chemistry the combination of Krejci and Seguin seemed to be generating. Maybe the return of Marchand (and the effectiveness that came with it Sunday) has Julien feeling better about getting things back to normal.
It shouldn’t be surprising that Tuukka Rask was the first goalie off at morning skate, and he’s expected to get the start against New York.
The Bruins announced the signing of Jay Pandolfo earlier. He’s getting old, and he doesn’t offer much in terms of production on the score sheet. However, it’s a good enough depth signing, and Pandolfo is known as a strong penalty killer, so it’s not like there’s any sort of real tangible risk or downside to bringing him in.
Speaking of signing, defenseman Andrew Ference is looking to stay in Boston, as he’s set to become a free agent this summer. Learn more about that right here.
1:13 p.m.: The B’s and Jay Pandolfo have agreed to a one-year deal, according to the team.
Pandolfo, 38, has to first clear waivers to officially join the Bruins roster.
8 a.m. ET: The Bruins will play their 11th game on Tuesday night, and for the third time in those 11 games, the New York Rangers will be the opponent.
The two Eastern Conference rivals wrap up their three-game season series Tuesday at TD Garden in the rubber match between the two teams. Boston took the season opener on Jan. 19 with a 3-1 win over the Rangers, and New York bounced back with an overtime win on Jan. 23 in New York.
While the Bruins have made consistency a habit in opening the season with the best 10-game start in team history, the Rangers have seen ups and downs through their first 11 games. They come in having won their last two games, but they currently find themselves right on the edge of the Eastern Conference playoff picture.
The Bruins have been one of the game’s best teams, as evidenced by their 8-1-1 start. They avenged their only regulation loss with a win in Buffalo on Sunday night, and they’ll look to get revenge for their early-season overtime loss to the Rangers on Tuesday night.
The puck is slated to be dropped at 7:30 p.m., and we’ll have updates throughout the day leading up to live coverage from the Garden.
