Fansided

What we learned about the New York Rangers by beating the Bruins 4-3

By Steve Paulus |
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - FEBRUARY 06: Chris Kreider #20 of the New York Rangers shoots back Torey Krug #47 of the Boston Bruins at Madison Square Garden on February 06, 2019 in New York City. The Rangers defeated the Bruins 4-3 in the shoot-out. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - FEBRUARY 06: Chris Kreider #20 of the New York Rangers shoots back Torey Krug #47 of the Boston Bruins at Madison Square Garden on February 06, 2019 in New York City. The Rangers defeated the Bruins 4-3 in the shoot-out. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
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NEW YORK, NEW YORK – FEBRUARY 06: Brad Marchand #63 of the Boston Bruins skates against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on February 06, 2019 in New York City. The Rangers defeated the Bruins 4-3 in the shoot-out. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – FEBRUARY 06: Brad Marchand #63 of the Boston Bruins skates against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on February 06, 2019 in New York City. The Rangers defeated the Bruins 4-3 in the shoot-out. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

Deep inside we knew it, that the New  York Rangers will not give up.  They proved it before a national audience with a stirring come from behind win over the Boston Bruins.

There is no quit in the New York Rangers.  Time and time again this season they have responded to adversity and they will continue to do it until the roster is gutted in the next 19 days. They have gone into the third period trailing in 24 games this season.  For the fifth time they came back and won.

How did they do it?  The Zibanejad line led the way, yet again, but this time they got goals from Kevin Hayes and Filip Chytil,  a future former Ranger and the Ranger of the future.   In the shootout the scorers were ZIbanejd and Tony DeAngelo, both big parts of the future of the this team.

After a late first period Zibanejad goal gave them the lead, the Rangers fell asleep in the second period and the Bruins scored three goals in less than five minutes.  Going into the third period down two goals the expectations were slim until Kevin Hayes got them within a goal with ten minutes to go.

But it took an ill-advised crosschecking penalty against Charlie McAvoy after a brilliant shift by the ZIbanejad line to get the Rangers to the power play and it was Filip Chytil who scored the tying goal off the rebound of a Pavel Buchnevich shot.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – FEBRUARY 06: Alexandar Georgiev #40 of the New York Rangers races out of the net after winning a 4-3 shoot-out against the Boston Bruins at Madison Square Garden on February 06, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – FEBRUARY 06: Alexandar Georgiev #40 of the New York Rangers races out of the net after winning a 4-3 shoot-out against the Boston Bruins at Madison Square Garden on February 06, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

Notes on the game

As Mika Zibanejad goes, so go the Rangers.  His line had numerous opportunities in the first period and he scored the first goal on another nice feed from Mats Zuccarello.

In the third period it was a fabulous shift by the Zibanejad line that kept the Bruins hemmed in and led to the a nasty cross check to back of ZIbanejad by Charlie McAvoy.   The second power play unit started the man advantage and put the puck home, but it was the work of the top line that got them there.

In the overtime, Zibanejad almost won the game, but was stopped on the doorstep by Jaroslav Halak.  And in the shootout, Zibanejad was one of two Rangers who scored.

They got secondary scoring! Kevin Hayes scored the Rangers second goal on a nice feed from Jimmy Vesey after a rush by Pavel Buchnevich.  Filip Chytil scored the tying goal after another shot by Buchnevich. Its been a while, but it actually happened.

Two of the best players in this game were Tony DeAngelo and Pavel Buchnevich.  DeAngelo has returned from a sojourn in the press box and Buchnevich was relegated to the fourth line for a while.  Whatever magic David Quinn is working, it was effective in this game.

We all know that Georgiev is a solid goalie who has been the victim of some horrible defensive performances, but he really showed his stuff in the seven round shootout. This game has to be a real confidence booster for the young goalie.  Don’t forget, he lost the 1-0 decision to the Flyers in his last start.

The Pastrnak goal by was vintage sloppy Rangers when Brendan Smith tried a headman pass that was intercepted.  With the Rangers on their heels, it was only time before the Bruins scored.   There were several other near misses in the second period when ill advised passes resulted in grade A chances for Boston.

You have to give the Blueshirts credit for not giving up.  Down two goals with 11 minutes left in the third period against a tough playoff team like the Bruins, a lot of teams would be going through the motions.  Not this team.

This was one of the most entertaining overtime periods for the Rangers this season.  The teams exchanged breakways and odd man breaks throughout the five minute overtime.  There were probably nine solid scoring chances between the two teams.  Chytil was stopped on a clean breakaway, ZIbanejad and Zuccarello were outstanding.  Georgiev did his part stopping a number of great chances.

The fourth line didn’t see much action with Boo Nieves and Vinni Littieri getting just over seven minutes of  ice time each. It didn’t help that they were on the ice for the second Bruins goal and Lettieri didn’t check Krejci who made the pass to Pastrnak for the tip-in.

The Bruins cannot beat the Rangers. The Blueshirts have won nine of the last 11 games and have won the season series this year.

This was a pretty physical game.  The Rangers were credited with 42 hits, led by Adam McQuaid with five.  The Bruins had only 26 hits, seven by Chris Wagner.

The Rangers are now 6-2 in shootouts but that is offset by the 1-5 record in overtime.

The Rangers are not doing themselves any favors in the race for a lottery position, but the lessons they learn by winning games like this are important.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – FEBRUARY 06: Mika Zibanejad #93 of the New York Rangers (l) celebrates his goal at 17:45 of the first period against the Boston Bruins at Madison Square Garden on February 06, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – FEBRUARY 06: Mika Zibanejad #93 of the New York Rangers (l) celebrates his goal at 17:45 of the first period against the Boston Bruins at Madison Square Garden on February 06, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

My three stars of the game

  • Mika Zibanejad continues his outstanding play.  Hie one-timer in the first period gave the Rangers the lead. His line had 27 scoring chances including 13 high danger chances.  ZIbanejad won 54 percent of his faceoffs and he scored in the shootout after he almost won the game in overtime.

    • Tony DeAngelo

    is something special when he is on his game. He assisted on the tying goal with a marvelous pass up the middle to Buchnevich.  His shootout goal was spectacular and he led all Rangers in ice time with over 24 minutes.  He played a nasty, chippy game and you have to love him giving the Bruins grief after he scored in the shootout.  Can this talented young man figure it out and live up to his potential?

  • Pavel Buchnevich  has been a different player since his benching and his time on the fourth line.  He had two assists in this game, one after driving to the net and the other on a slapshot from the blueline. Those are not plays you would have seen him make two weeks ago. Quinn rewarded him with almost 18 minutes of ice time.

    • dark. Next. Vinni Lettieri's big chance to stick for good

    The official three stars of the game

    1. Pavel Buchnevich
    2. Mika Zibanejad
    3. Brad Marchand
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