Fansided

New York Rangers: An entertaining 6-3 loss to Boston

By Steve Paulus |
BOSTON, MA - MARCH 27: Boston Bruins right wing David Pastrnak (88) shoots during a game between the Boston Bruins and the New York Rangers on March 27, 2019, at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA - MARCH 27: Boston Bruins right wing David Pastrnak (88) shoots during a game between the Boston Bruins and the New York Rangers on March 27, 2019, at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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BOSTON, MA – MARCH 27: David Pastrnak #88 of the Boston Bruins shoots and scores against the New York Rangers at the TD Garden on March 27, 2019 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Steve Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA – MARCH 27: David Pastrnak #88 of the Boston Bruins shoots and scores against the New York Rangers at the TD Garden on March 27, 2019 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Steve Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images) /

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.

BOSTON, MA – MARCH 27: Boston Bruins goalie Jaroslav Halak (41) makes a save with New York Rangers center Lias Andersson (50) in front during a game between the Boston Bruins and the New York Rangers on March 27, 2019, at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA – MARCH 27: Boston Bruins goalie Jaroslav Halak (41) makes a save with New York Rangers center Lias Andersson (50) in front during a game between the Boston Bruins and the New York Rangers on March 27, 2019, at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

Notes on the game

The Rangers were playing Boston as tough as they had in their first two meetings of the season (both Ranger wins).  Every time the Bruins got ahead, the Rangers came back with a push and scored, until the third period.

The Ranger penalty kill imploded this game as the Bruins scored four power play goals in six chances.  That was the most power play goals the Rangers have given up in a game this season.

With their eight penalties the Rangers lead the league with 312 penalties. They are second in the league with 25 major penalties, only behind Boston.

The Rangers took two too many men on the ice penalties.  They have taken 15 bench minor penalties and the only non-too many men penalty I can remember is the offside challenge Monday night.   At any  rate, they have the most bench minors of any team in the league. David Quinn was incensed about those penalties after the game. Someone will be benched on Friday.

  • Speaking of penalties, Brendan Smith took a high sticking penalty while the Rangers were already shorthanded with the bench minor.  The Bruins scored twice and put the game out of reach. The Smith penalty was marginal and it looked like Charlie Coyle sold it well.
  • Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy should get a star of the game award for moving Pastrnak off the Bergeron line onto the second line with David Krejci and Jake DeBrusk.  The five points by Pastrnak was a regular season career high.

    • Mika Zibanejad

    had two power play goals to give him 30 goals on the season, the first time he has reached that mark.   His first goal was a thing of beauty off a great feed from

    Ryan Strome

    .

    Strome continued with his hot hand, scoring his 15th goal of the season as a Ranger on a rebound of a

    Brett Howden

    shot.


    For Strome, it was his sixth goal in his last 12 games.  Counting his one goal in Edmonton, Strome is one goal away from tying his career high of 17 in his sophomore year with the Islanders.

    The Rangers came into the game the only Eastern Conference team that hadn’t lost to the Bruins.

    The Rangers have played 13 games this season on national television.  Their record is a mediocre 3-7-3.  They have one more national appearance, this Sunday vs. Philadelphia.

    BOSTON, MA – MARCH 27: Mika Zibanejad #93 of the New York Rangers scores against Jaroslav Halak and Charlie Coyle #13 of the Boston Bruins at the TD Garden on March 27, 2019 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Steve Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images)
    BOSTON, MA – MARCH 27: Mika Zibanejad #93 of the New York Rangers scores against Jaroslav Halak and Charlie Coyle #13 of the Boston Bruins at the TD Garden on March 27, 2019 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Steve Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images) /

    My three stars of the game

    1. Mika Zibanejad continues to play at a level much higher than his teammates. His first goal was a brilliant shot and came at a clutch moment, tying the game 1-1.   Zibanejad played 20 minutes, had five shots and won 57.7% of his faceoffs.  His second goal was in garbage time, but it did get him to 30 goals on the season. He’s the first Ranger to hit that mark since Rick Nash had 42 in 2014-15 and the first Ranger center to hit the mark since Eric Lindros in 2002.
    2. Ryan Strome continues to build on his best season since 2015.  He scored an even strength goals and assisted on Zibanejad’s power play tally..  Strome is showing a knack for scoring clutch goals and he find holes that other Rangers don’t seem to.  You can see that he is a gifted scorer and you can believe that he had seasons of 65, 46 and 53 goals in juniors.  The negative was that he took two penalties that led to Bruins goals.
    3. Henrik Lundqvist gets the third star even though he allowed six goals. Four were power play goals and he was pretty much helpless on the two even strength goals. He gets the star because of the saves that he did make.  Without Lundqvist, the game would have been over in the first period.

    Next. How much is Chris Kreider worth?. dark

    The official three stars of the game

    1. David Pastrnak
    2. David Krejci
    3. Brad Marchand
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