Nov 3, 2022; New York, New York, USA; Boston Bruins right wing David Pastrnak (88) brings the puck up ice against New York Rangers left wing Jimmy Vesey (26) during the second period at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
NHL: Boston Bruins at New York Rangers
When one winning streak carries on, one must end, and last night the Rangers’ winning streak ended at 3 as the Boston Bruins marched into Madison Square Garden to beat the Broadway Blueshirts 5-2. With that, the Bruins now have an 8-game winning streak and improve to a 10-1 start to the 2022 NHL season, the best start ever in Bruins history. For the Rangers, they fall to 6-4-2, and when the night ended, they dropped to 4th place in the Metropolitan division. The Bruins this season are 8-0-0 when they score first, and that’s exactly what they did on Thursday night when David Pastrnak rifled a backhander past Igor Shesterkin on an impossible angle. Even as Shesterkin inadvertently moved the goalposts back, Pastrnak’s shot hit the sweet spot and went bar-down for the early lead. It took New York until the 2nd period to respond, but they answered with Jimmy Vesey off of a beautiful feed from Mika Zibanejad.
The Bruins and Rangers were tied 1-1 heading into the 3rd period, where 5 total goals were scored. Both Adam Fox and Charlie Coyle tallied a goal in the first 5 minutes of the period to make it 2-2, but that’s when the Bruins turned up the energy. Trent Frederic and Jake DeBrusk scored 3 minutes apart to put Boston up for good. Other than Pastrnak’s mind-blowing angle and Hampus Lindholm’s empty-netter to seal the deal, the Bruins goals were all one-timers. Coyle’s goal was a one-time shot on a Lindholm assist, Frederic scored his off of a Nick Foligno pass, and DeBrusk had an open net to shoot at after the feed from former New Jersey Devil, Pavel Zacha. It was a dominant showing offensively as Boston nearly had double the amount of shots that the Rangers put up (37-20). Shesterkin did everything that he good as he did make some flamboyant saves to keep the Rangers in the game, but the Boston offense continues to show why they are the highest-scoring team in the NHL. They lead the league in goals per game (4.45) in a season where they have scored at least 4 goals in all but two games thus far. Linus Ullmark needed 18 saves for the shutout and improves to an 8-0-0 record as Boston’s No. 1 goaltender.
For Gerard Gallant’s side, they drop their winning streak after overcoming a four-game slump from last week. Sitting in the middle of the pack now in the division, New York needs to start using its strengths. The Power Play was their greatest strength last year, placing 4th in the NHL in PP%. Now, they have scored once in their last 8 opportunities, which drops the Rangers to 18th in that department (20.9%). Their one positive aspect as a unit has been their Penalty Kill as they have been perfect in 4 of their last 5 games (13-14). Consistency is starting to become a bit of a question around Rangerstown, but they got a chance to bounce back on Sunday when the Detroit Red Wings come to town. They do not possess the momentum that Boston had, but they do start their 2022 campaign over .500 (5-3-2). Dylan Larkin will lead that crew into New York as their leading goalscorer with 6 goals. Ville Husso has started only 6 games but owns a 4-1-1 record with a 2.17 Goals Against Average (8th in NHL).
It’s another formidable side that can pose problems for the Rangers if New York starts out slow once again. They pulled out an OT win over the Flyers where only one goal was scored on 36 shots and scored only one goal into the 3rd period against the best team in the league at this point. It’s back to the drawing board for the team, but if the Blueshirts are going to stay atop of the division race throughout the season, they need to start playing with urgency right from puck drop. Sunday night, they will get the chance to do just that.
