Rangers revisited: A Boston blowout

Two shorthanded goals and a New York Rangers milestone for Pavel Buchnevich

With no New York Rangers hockey until January, we will try to give all Ranger fans a taste of hockey by reliving the best moment on this date over the last five years.

Saturday, November 5, 2016, the Rangers traveled to Boston to take on the Bruins.  Boston was one of the best teams in the NHL as were the Rangers and it was a chance for the Blueshirts to see how good they were.  The Rangers had gone four years without a victory in Boston.

Back up goalie Antti Raanta got the start and he won his third game in three starts as the Rangers blew out the Bruins 5-2.  They scored two shorthanded goals and for Pavel Buchnevich, he scored the first goal of his Ranger career.

It was the first time they had scored two shorthanded goals in one game since March, 2014 and was the last time they had two in a game until last November when they had two shorthanded goals against the Devils. The shorties came from Derek Stepan and Kevin Hayes.

The win gave the Rangers a 9-3-0 record while it dropped he Bruins to 6-5-0 and an awful 1-3 record at TD Garden.

The game

After Patrice Bergeron gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead just four minutes into the game, it was Nick Holden who tied the score with his first goal of the season and his first as a Ranger. It was a seeing eye wrist shot from the blue line that beat Tukka Rask.

With Marc Staal off for tripping, the Blueshirts scored their first of the two shorthanded goals with Michael Grabner teaming with Derek Stepan who put the puck home.

The play was made by the blazing speed of Michael Grabner who led the rush out of the Rangers’ zone.

Kevin Hayes then scored the second straight shorthanded goal to give the Rangers a 3-1 lead. Marc Staal got the headman pass to Hayes who out waited Rask and put it past him.

That set the stage for the first of Pavel Buchnevich’s 59 NHL goals. It was a screen shot off a great backhand pass from Derek Stepan.  The question is, did Buchnevich smile?  What the video to see.

David Pastrnak scored to pull the Bruins within 4-2 with five minutes left, but Michael Grabner scored an unassisted goal two minutes later to ice the win.  The Austrian stole the puck and broke it and beat Rask with a wrist shot.

Grabner is an unsigned free agent this year.  The Rangers haven’t had a player with his speed since they traded him to New Jersey in 2018.  Makes you wonder…..

Antti Raanta stopped 35 shots for the win and was very steady in goal.

In watching the highlights of this game, what sticks out is how good Derek Stepan could be. It was a typical Stepan game as he finished with a goal and two assists, including the shorthanded goal while playing the third most minutes among forwards.

Let’s not forget that it was after this season that the Rangers swapped Stepan and Raanta to the Arizona Coyotes for Tony DeAngelo and a first round draft pick.

Here’s a full video recap of the game.

We hope you enjoy reliving these past games. With this win the Rangers went on to win their next three games in Boston in a stretch of road dominance.