B's out-shoot Rangers 31-24 and pick up their first home win since March 4.
Sobotka grabs No. 3 star, Begin No. 2 star and Rask gets the No. 1 star.
You've got to be happy with the play of the entire Sobotka-Satan-Lucic line as well as Chara and Seidenberg's play on the blue line. Overall, a great display by the Black and Gold.
Third period, 19:01, Bruins 2-1: Lundqvist is out of the net.
Third period, 18:01, Bruins 2-1: Girardi and Avery get helpers on the Del Zotto tally.
Third period, 16:56, Bruins 2-1: Del Zotto's blast from the point finds away past Rask to cut the B's lead to 2-1. It got a piece of something or someone and bounced up over Rask's shoulder.
Third period, 15:48, Bruins 2-0: Nice back-checking by Wheeler to get his stick on a one-timer attempted in the B's zone.
Third period, 12:10, Bruins 2-0: Ryder-Krejci-Wheeler go down 3-on-1 but get stoned by Lundqvist on a highlight reel save.
Third period, 10:20, Bruins 2-0: Lucic and Sobotka each grab helpers on Wideman's fourth of the year.
You don't see too many back-handed bullets from 30 feet out and you certainly don't see too many find the top shelf on a goalie like Lundqvist. A shocking goal to say the least.
Wideman's last goal came against these Rangers on Jan. 9 — a span of 25 games.
Third period, 10:20, Bruins 2-0: Wideman finds the top shelf from just inside the left faceoff circle. With a backhander, no less.
Third period, 7:43, Bruins 1-0: Begin and Paille botch a perfect 2-on-1 opportunity off a Rangers turnover in the neutral zone but the pair draw the offsides call before they could even get within firing range.
Third period, 6:24, Bruins 1-0: Staal and Bergeron engage in some post-whistle scuffling and each will head to their bins for a couple minutes to think about what the did. We're going to get some 4-on-4 puck for a couple here.
Third period, 5:11, Bruins 1-0: That's the second time Boychuk nearly takes out Sobotka with a shot from the point.
Third period, 3:24, Bruins 1-0: Bergie and Seidenberg are creating some chances for the B's but Lundqvist is standing his ground despite the abundance of traffic in front. After the Rangers came storming out to control the first couple of shifts, momentum has appeared to have swung back to the Bruins side.
Third period, 1:21, Bruins 1-0: Tuukka pulls a Tim Thomas and grabs himself a nice flopping/sprawling save. Seconds later he cuts off the angle on a point blank wrister from the right circle.
Third period, 1:00, Bruins 1-0: Rask comes up big on a rebound attempt by Prospal right at the doorstep. Begin was right on his heels to offer a nice crosscheck after the shot was kicked aside.
Second intermission, Bruins 1-0: Here are some stat-based reasons to be pleased with the B's play this afternoon: Boston is leading in hits 21-11, shots 19-15, blocked shots 11-8, faceoffs won 25-18 and last but not least, goals 1-0.
Lucic has a game-high three hits while Seidenberg is tied with Krejci with three shots and has a game-high 17:45 total ice time. Chara, who has eight minutes in penalties, has just 14:04 of ice time.
Lundqvist has now stopped five-of-eight career penalty shots. His last penalty shot came against these very Bruins this year when he stoned Sturm on Jan. 9.
The B's are 18-4-2 when leading after two periods while the Rangers are 0-23-2 when trailing after two this season.
Second intermission, Bruins 1-0: Begin just cleaned out Prospal at the B's blue line with less than a second remaining, sending the Ranger flying through the air and embarrassingly backwards into a teammate. A perfect way to end another solid Bruins period of action.
The Rangers forward nearly decapitated Stuart in the first with an ugly hit from behind, so consider this a little bit of a reminder that the B's aren't messing around in this one. Jokinen came to his teammates aid and got whistled for a roughing call as the period comes to an end.
Second period, 19:33, Bruins 1-0: Satan skates into a Ranger backchecker and gets called for an interference. The veteran winger wasn't happy about the call.
Second period, 16:36, Bruins 1-0: Ference finds Satan all alone at the backdoor for an easy goal to put the B's up 1-0.
Boychuk also gets a helper on the tally — Satan's fifth of the season. A Ranger defender botched the coverage as Satan was wide open for the easy open-netter. Check the replay — he was open for so long is looked like the B's were on the power play.
Second period, 16:13, tied 0-0: Paille's penalty shot is no good as he ripped a wrister in the slot for an easy Lundqvist save.
Second period, 16:13, tied 0-0: Penalty shot coming. Paille pulled down.
Second period, 13:11, tied 0-0: This Satan-Sobotka-Lucic line is fun to watch. There's skill, toughness and grit — a good concoction for some "garbage" goals. Let's see if they can pull one out of their hat.
Second period, 12:30, tied 0-0: The B's kill off the Rangers' four-minute PP and allow just two shots on net. Great work for the B's PK team against a very weak Rangers power play unit.
Second period, 10:47, tied 0-0: Paille gets a huge ovation from the crowd and a big laugh from the press box as he blasts Avery with a hit as the whistle blows on a Rangers offsides. Avery peeled himself off the ice and quietly skated to the bench.
Second period, 8:30, tied 0-0: Chara heads to the bin once again, this time for a high stick. He'll be in for four minutes with a double minor.
Nothing ugly on the play, as the captain's stick rode up high during a harmless poke check. Gaborik helped the stripes out a little with some fine exaggeration.
Second period, 7:50, tied 0-0: Sturm found Recchi streaking in the high slot as the third man in but the veteran's shot was deflected. Solid feed by Sturm.
Second period, 4:15, tied 0-0: Lucic just finished a good check on former BU golden boy Matt Gilroy to draw "Loooooooooch" chants from the faithful.
Second period, 3:24, tied 0-0: Stuart really wants a go at Jody Shelley here after the whistle.
Stuart's pocket was picked at the blue line and it was Wideman racing back to deflect the attempted shot over the glass.
B's nearly popped one earlier when Paille was alone with a rebound out front. Problem was, he didn't get a stick on it until he was facing the wrong way.
Second period, 1:30, tied 0-0: After a Del Zotto slip and turnover in the Rangers zone, Recchi fed Sturm at the backdoor but the puck appeared to have jumped over the German winger's stick. Was sure to find the back of the net had it been clean.
First intermission, tied 0-0: The B's are 5-7-3 in matinee games this season and after today, have three more to go which will give them a league-high 19 day games.
The Rangers are pretty good when playing "under the sun" if you will, as they're 7-0-1.
First intermission, tied 0-0: Boston leads in shots 12-9 and are controlling the flow here in the first.
More importantly (at least to the majority of Bruins fans), they're not taking any guff (guff? How old am I?) from from the Rangers. Just like last Thursday night, Chara is playing with fire in his eyes and not letting any of his teammates get pushed around.
First period, 18:07, tied 0-0: Jokinen goes off with a hook and the B's are granted their second power play.
Avery also just snuck in with a late hit on Lucic and quickly disappeared as the swarm closed in.
Now Chara has words with the little punk as the two head to their benches.
First period, 17:39, tied 0-0: Anisimov picks off a pass as he exits the box and set up Drury with a slapper from the left faceoff circle that goes harmlessly into Rask's midsection.
Also worth noting, there has been 26 PIM dished out already.
First period, 15:29, tied 0-0: New York's Anisimov gets called for the hook, making it a 4-on-4 for 24 seconds before the B's go on the PP.
Wheels heads off after taking a slapper off the foot. He looks fine but we'll keep an eye on his status heading into the locker room here in a few.
First period, 13:54, tied 0-0: Wideman's heading off to join Chara now as the B's defender gets called for a hook in his own zone. Boo birds — as well as the B.S. birds — are out in full force today.
First period, 12:43, tied 0-0: Chara heads to the bin after getting into it with Jokinen. The B's captain rode him into the net after a Rask save. Both head off with roughing calls.
First period, 12:05, tied 0-0: Rask comes up with a huge save on Gaborik, who ripped a one-timer from close range in the slot.
B's go on the PK as Recchi gets whistled for the charge.
Sobotka took a Boychuk shot form the point up high, but it appeared to get his glove..
First period, 10:12, tied 0-0: Boston continues to control the flow of this one as Lundqvist snares one out of the air to give his Rangers the much-needed whistle. B's lead in shots 8-5.
First period, 11:15, tied 0-0: Wheels-Krejci connection almost struck gold on a nice pass from the lanky winger.
First period, 8:10, tied 0-0: It was Sobotka who got into it with Avery earlier. Vlad's chippy ways and Avery's dirty style will clash all day. Let's keep a good eye on the two.
First period, 7:00, tied 0-0: This Sunday crowd may be small in size but these fans are hungry and the B's are giving them a great, physical show and lead in shots 6-5.
First period, 4:59, tied 0-0: Add Vinny Prospal to the Most Wanted list. Prospal just rocked Stuart from behind face-first into the back boards.
Happy to report that the Black and Gold quickly swarmed in his defense. Prospal gets two for boarding, Stuart two for roughing.
First period, 4:34, tied 0-0: Big surprise, Sean Avery starts a fight and turtles his way out when Lucic sneaks into the fray. Chara ends up with a penalty and the Rangers go up on the power play early.
First period, 2:40, tied 0-0: Begin gets into it Prust. Something tells me this will be the first of at least one more bout between the two. Begin lost his footing and Prust fed him a few extra times when he was down.
First period, 2:30, tied 0-0: Shawn Thornton just walked in alone after a neutral zone turnover. The big fella proved he's not the team sniper as an attempted move went directly into Lundqvist's pads.
First period, 1:27, tied 0-0: The B's just had an early scoring chance as an attempted clear by the Rangers took a Bruin-friendly hop off the back glass and towards the front of the net.
B's leading in shots early 4-0.
12:24 p.m.: Don't expect too much from the NYR power play Sunday. On the road, the Rangers are 28th in the league with the man-advantage while Boston is second in the league when killing penalties at home.
Yes, I'm knocking on wood.
The Rangers aren't too shabby when they're down a man on the road as they rank fifth in that department. The B's on the PP at home are eighth in the league. What's this all mean? Basically nothing, as these two squads are in dire need of wins.
12:20 p.m.: Seidenberg is in. Despite missing Saturday's skate, he's ready to go.
When asked how the team was feeling before this one, Julien replied, "Good. I think we're feeling the same way the other team is — desperate for a win."
10:12: a.m.: Sturm, Seidenberg and Boychuk have been battling the flu with Seidenberg missing Saturday's skate at Ristuccia.
The newest B's are hoping their newest D-man will be good to go Sunday.
“Some are better, and as you noticed today Seidenberg is going through that and that’s why he’s missing,” head coach Claude Julien told CSNNE.com. “We had a trainer go through it, so it hasn’t been completely missing. There’s nothing you can do about it. You’ve just got to battle through those situations and realize the importancy of tomorrow.
“I hope [he can play] but I can’t answer that question. It all depends on how he’s feeling tomorrow and we’re hoping he’ll be much better.”
1:45 a.m.: The Bruins aren't the most popular team in this city right now, as fans of the Black and Gold booed the squad out of the TD Garden on Thursday night after being blanked by public enemy No. 1 Matt Cooke and the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The B's have a chance to win back their followers on Sunday, but it won't be an easy task as Boston welcomes in the Rangers. The NYR are breathing down their necks in the Eastern Conference as they are just three points behind Boston for the eighth and final playoff spot.
The Rangers have been playing some ugly hockey as of late, losing six of their last eight games, including their most recent contest — a 4-3 loss to the Blues on Thursday night.
