The Boston Bruins were riding a two-game losing streak coming into today’s matchup against the New York Rangers. After the big trade was made, the Rangers ended up on the losing side of things in a 6-3 loss.
First Period
The Rangers came out flying to start the game against the Bruins. They kept them in their own zone and generated good looks against Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman . Then they got into penalty trouble. At the 8:19 mark of the period, defenseman Uhro Vaakanainen went off for cross-checking and Ryan Lindgren went off as well to give the Bruins a 5-on-3 advantage.
The Bruins cashed in on the power play, with a Charlie McAvoy blast to give the Bruins the lead. 34 seconds later, the Rangers tied the game. A Brandon Carlo clearing attempt bounced off the stick of Artemi Panarin and J.T. Miller scored his first goal as a Ranger. Seven minutes later, the Bruins broke the tie. Upon zone entry, Matthew Poitras got good board position against Adam Fox and fed a pass to David Pastrnak who scored his 25th of the season. The remainder of the period was scoreless and the Bruins took a 2-1 lead into the second.
Second Period
The Bruins picked up where they left off early into the second period. 3:39 into the second period, Charlie Coyle extended the lead. After good puck movement in the offensive zone, Coyle deflected an Andrew Peeke shot that got by Igor Shesterkin.
It took until the bitter end of the period, but the Bruins got another power play opportunity. They cashed in, as center Pavel Zacha pounced on the loose puck and made it 4-1 Bruins. The Rangers had little to show in this period. The Bruins did a tremendous job suppressing the Rangers’ chances and held them to two shots on goal.
Third Period
35 seconds into the third, the Rangers found life. With carry-over power play time, a shot pass by Mika Zibanejad was deflected by Miller for his second goal of the game. The Bruins grabbed it right back off a turnover 46 seconds later. Poitras set up Pastrnak perfectly and he blasted a slap shot past Shesterkin.
It took minutes later, but the Rangers cut the deficit to two goals. Ryan Lindgren fired a shot from along the boards that got deflected by Jonny Brodzinski. The Rangers pulled Shesterkin at the end of the game and Pastrnak scored the empty net goal to complete the hat trick.
