On Thursday night, the Boston Bruins throttled the New York Rangers 4-0.
The Blueshirts returned the favor Saturday afternoon.
The Rangers handed the Bruins their second shutout in their last four contests, blanking Boston 4-0 at TD Garden.
Boston had bad jump from the beginning, and never showed the life it needed to mount a comeback. The Rangers blew enough chances to leave the door open for the Bruins to hang around much of the game, but the B’s simply couldn’t cash in.
K’Andre Miller, Chris Kreider, Ryan Strome and Pavel Buchnevich had New York’s goals.
Jaroslav Halak made 29 saves for the Bruins. Keith Kinkaid turned away 18 shots for the Rangers.
With the loss, the Bruins fall to 14-7-4. The Rangers climb to 11-12-3 with the win.
Here’s how it all went down:
MILLER TIME
Halak arguably was the only Bruin to start at time, and it was for that reason Boston only went into the intermission down 1-0.
Just over three minutes into the game, Mika Zibanejad won an offensive zone face-off, drawing it out to the boards, where Buchnevich was there to receive the puck. The winger got the puck up to Miller at the point, and the defenseman skated along the blue line before firing a wrister that rocketed off the post and into the net at 3:06.
Halak was barking at the referee after the goal, presumably because he thought he was interfered with by Kreider, but it was clear he hadn’t been touched.
NOTHING DOING
The Bruins didn’t come out with much more life in the second period, but, again, the Rangers didn’t extend things as much as they could.
A defensive breakdown shortly past the quarter point allowed for New York’s only goal of the second. Jacob Trouba handled the puck at the right point, then fed it down to Artemi Panarin at the end line. Boston’s defense got sucked over too far to the right, which allowed Kreider to go zipping into the slot unmarked.
Realizing Kreider was wide open, Jarred Tinordi dove to try and block the shot, but Panarin’s pass feathered to Kreider too quickly, and the Boxford native buried New York’s second goal at 5:42.
The Bruins got just six shots on net the entire period, and were outshot 21-11 through 40 minutes.
Trent Frederic and Brendan Lemieux chirped one another near center ice before the period, and shortly after the frame began Lemieux hit Frederic into the Bruins bench as the door was getting opened. It was a dirty hit that got Lemieux a two-minute penalty for boarding, but the Bruins didn’t generate much on the power-play. Frederic was shaken up at first and went down the tunnel, but ended up playing the period without issue.
CLOSING THE DOOR
The Bruins didn’t put together much of a comeback effort, and Strome slammed the door with the period’s only goal.
After a shot was turned away by Halak, Panarin gave chase to the loose puck zipping toward the corner, and four Bruins went with him. That left Strome all alone on the doorstep at the far post, and a deft pass from the winger made its way through the traffic to Strome. The center quickly buried it at 8:03 in the third to really put the game out of reach.
For good measure, New York added one more.
The Bruins were hounded by the Rangers forecheck as they tried to clear their zone, and that resulted in a loose puck trickling to Buchnevich in the high slot. He quickly collected it and fired it past Halak at 16:12 to make it 4-0.
UP NEXT
The Bruins hit the road for a four-game road trip, which begins Monday with the first leg of a back-to-back against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Puck drop from PPG Paints Arena is set for 7 p.m. ET.
