Patrice Bergeron scored his 13th goal of the season Wednesday night in a 3-2 loss to the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
The Boston Bruins center was able to perfectly redirect an awesome saucer pass from Loui Eriksson and beat Rangers goaltender Cam Talbot. The goal was similar to the one Bergeron scored in double overtime of Game 3 in the 2013 Eastern Conference Finals against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Bergeron leads the Bruins with 34 points (13 goals, 21 assists), two ahead of Carl Soderberg and four ahead of Eriksson.
— The Bruins dominated the faceoff circle. They had a 30-15 advantage on draws and each B’s center won more 50 percent or more of his faceoffs, led by David Krejci at 78 percent. The Rangers entered the game ranked 29th in faceoff percentage.
— The Bruins’ third line of Chris Kelly-Carl Soderberg-David Pastrnak was unable to find the scoresheet with zero points and did not fare well from a puck-possession standpoint. Each of these three players had an even-strength shot attempt differential of minus-10 or worse. Kelly was a minus-18 Corsi (two shots for, 20 against) during 5-on-5 play.
— Milan Lucic scored Boston’s first goal at 13:37 of the opening period with a perfect shot that beat Talbot up high. He now has 11 points (five goals, six assists) in his last 11 games.
— The Bruins were 2-for-2 on the penalty kill and have gone five straight games without a power-play goal against. They are 16-for-16 in shorthanded situations in that span.
— Tuukka Rask was fantastic in net during the first half of the opening period and made several difficult saves when the Bruins were spending a lot of time in their own zone and didn’t tally a shot on goal until about the eight-minute mark. Derek Stepan’s second-period goal was one that Rask would like to have back, but the Bruins goaltender gave his team a chance to win.
— Rangers goaltender Cam Talbot picked up his first win of the season against the Bruins after losing 3-0 on Jan. 15. He made 18 saves on 20 shots.
— Rangers winger Rick Nash scored his NHL-leading 32nd goal and added an assist for his 13th multi-point game.
— New York had a 49-37 shot attempt advantage at even strength.
Thumbnail photo via Ron Chenoy/USA TODAY Sports Images
