saves in a rare complete-game preseason effort, and prospect Zach
Hamill scored a first-period goal in the Boston Bruins' 2-1 victory
over the New York Rangers on Tuesday night.
Rask, who stopped 35 Rangers shots on
Jan. 31 for a 1-0 victory in his only action with the Bruins last
season, stymied New York again. A big test came in the second period
when New York recorded 14 shots and had two power plays. The only
blemish was Christopher Higgins' third-period goal that made it 2-1
with 9:55 left.
Hamill, the No. 8 overall pick in the
2007 NHL draft, scored Boston's first goal of the preseason when he
finished off a nifty tic-tac-toe passing play. The soon-to-be
21-year-old Hamill scored at the left post 7:30 in during a power play.
Boston, which posted the Eastern
Conference's top record last season, received three more chances with a
man advantage in the first period but couldn't capitalize. The Bruins
stayed out of the penalty box in the opening 20 minutes and outshot New
York 14-5.
Veteran backup Steve Valiquette
started for the Rangers and stopped 18 of 19 shots before being
replaced by Matt Zaba, who played 41 games for New York's Hartford AHL
affiliate last season.
Max Sauve scored a power-play goal against Zaba at 6:39 of the third period to make it 2-0. Zaba stopped 15 of 16 shots.
No. 1 netminder Henrik Lundqvist got
the night off for the Rangers, who will play at New Jersey on Wednesday
night. Boston will visit Toronto on Wednesday.
Regulars for both teams sat out the
preseason opener. New York was without prized free-agent acquisition
Marian Gaborik, who missed the game due to tightness and soreness in
his groin. Sean Avery was also held out of the lineup.
The Rangers were without forward Brandon Dubinsky, who is a restricted free agent.
Boston dressed Norris Trophy winner
Zdeno Chara, who was whistled for the Bruins' first penalty — a holding
call in the second period — but played without Vezina Trophy-winning
goalie Tim Thomas along with its top five scorers from last season:
Marc Savard, David Krejci, Mark Recchi, Phil Kessel and Michael Ryder.
Kessel is also an unsigned restricted free agent.
Rangers enforcer Donald Brashear
heard a strong amount of boos each time he touched the puck as he made
his debut with New York. Fans still held a grudge against Brashear, a
longtime nemesis from his days with Philadelphia and Washington.
Brashear was suspended during the
first round of last season's playoffs while with the Capitals because
of a hit he delivered to the face of former Rangers forward Blair
Betts, breaking bones and knocking New York's top penalty killer out of
the series.