The New York Rangers lost to the Boston Bruins 6-3 in a very entertaining game that was close until midway through the third period. Call it the David Pastrnak show as he had four goals and an assist for the Bruins.
Although 6-3 is a one-sided score, the game was actually close. The New York Rangers were down only one goal with seven minutes left in the third period. That’s when the Rangers’ discipline vanished, the penalty kill blew up leading to three straight Boston goals.
But this game was much more than another hard fought battle between the Rangers and the Bruins. It was a game where Lias Andersson was mugged by the Boston Bruins and then more dubious officiating let the game get out of hand.
Andersson was involved in two separate altercations with the Bruins all because he threw a hard check into Patrice Bergeron. The check was not dirty, but the Bruins thought it was and immediately jumped to the defense of their team leader and best player.
The play developed when Andersson went for a puck on the boards. After moving the puck he spun around so his back was to Bergeron who was coming in to check him. Bergeron’s head made contact with Andersson’s back, mostly because Bergeron was hunched over. In what was purely a reputation call, Andersson ended up with a double minor for roughing and Bergeron only got two minutes. This even though Bergeron initiated the rough stuff and pounded Andersson repeatedly.
The game ended with David Backes, who has become the self appointed enforcer for the Bruins, viciously cross checking Andersson repeatedly, leading to another scrum. At least in this case, the refs had to award the power play to the Rangers and they scored to take a tiny bit of the edge off the Boston victory.
The referees should thank Coach David Quinn for stapling Brendan Lemieux to the bench for the last two minutes or there could have been a melee.
This was the most physical Lias Andersson has been in any game this season and his check on Bergeron is one example of the mindset the Rangers had when they drafted him seventh overall. We will learn a lot about Andersson based on his play in the next few games. At least in this one, he didn’t back down a bit.