The Boston Bruins weren’t able to mount a third-period comeback in Wednesday night’s game against the New York Rangers and lost 3-2.
Boston took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission, but New York scored two unanswered goals in the final 40 minutes to even the season series 1-1.
The Bruins will head back to Boston to prepare for a tough weekend of back-to-back games against the New York Islanders on Saturday and the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday.
Here are three quick takeaways from Bruins-Rangers.
1. Bruins Answer Early Rangers Goal With Two Of Their Own
The B’s had trouble with the Rangers’ speed over the first half of the opening period and allowed Rick Nash to begin the scoring with a breakaway goal at the 5:50 mark.
Boston went nearly eight minutes without a shot on goal to start the period, but it scored on two of its first five shots, beginning with a tally from Milan Lucic. The first-line left winger beat Rangers goalie Cam Talbot with a beautiful wrist shot for his 11th goal of the season.
Patrice Bergeron gave the Bruins their first lead 1:52 later. The B’s center redirected an excellent saucer pass from linemate Loui Eriksson.
Boston’s two goals improved its first-period goal differential to plus-8, the team’s best mark of any period this season.
2. Adam McQuaid-Dennis Seidenberg Pairing Struggles
The McQuaid-Seidenberg pairing was on the ice for New York’s first two goals. Rangers forwards used their speed and strength to keep the puck in the attacking zone and create scoring chances against this duo.
This pairing also struggled to drive puck possession. McQuaid helped Boston control 23 percent of even-strength shot attempts (6 for, 20 against), while Seidenberg was at 22 percent (5 for, 18 against).
McQuaid and Seidenberg were scoreless with a combined two shots on goal.
3. Claude Julien Mixes Lines in Third Period
The Bruins head coach switched his right wingers in the third period with the team trailing 3-2. Here’s what the B’s top three lines looked like for the majority of the final period:
Lucic-Krejci-Pastrnak
Marchand-Bergeron-Smith
Kelly-Soderberg-Eriksson
These were the top three lines at the start of the game:
Lucic-Krejci-Smith
Marchand-Bergeron-Eriksson
Kelly-Soderberg-Pastrnak
The fourth line of Paille-Campbell-Cunningham, which remained intact all game, gave one of its better performances in recent weeks. This trio was able to create good attacking-zone pressure and matched the physicality of the Rangers’ bottom-six forwards. The fourth line also had a positive shot differential at even strength.
Thumbnail photo via Adam Hunger/USA TODAY Sports Images
