The New York Rangers played in front of live fans for the first time this season and it made a world of difference. They rode the emotional boost they got from a very vocal crowd of 1,800 fans and thoroughly beat the Boston Bruins 6-2.
Despite missing some vital pieces of their puzzle, the entire team put together an excellent effort, outshooting, outhitting and outplaying the slumping Bruins. It was a pretty inspiring performance against the team in first place in the East and it renews playoff hopes.
The team got a huge boost before warmups when it was announced that K’Andre Miller would be able to play. In just a month, he has become an indispensable part of this team and his return to the lineup changed the face of the Blueshirt defense.
Everything worked for the Rangers. They scored a power play goal, killed all of their penalties and got balanced scoring from all four lines. The Bruins are in a relative freefall, losing four of five and they have allowed 11 goals in their last four periods.
The most significant factor for the Rangers was their physical play. Though the final number of hits was 32-28 for the Rangers, they came out hitting early with 11 hits in the first eight minutes of the game and 17 in the first period. The physical play put the Bruins on their heels from the get go, something David Quinn has been talking about for over two years, but it was the quality of physical play that mattered.
Quinn explained, “We weren’t running around looking for a hit…overall, it was probably our most physical approach. It’s not about big hits…most people aren’t going to recognize the subtle practicalities of this game. On 50/50 pucks if you’re reaching as opposed to thinking I’m going to get physical with the opponent, you’re going to be in trouble… out intentions on the 50/50 puck battles was we were going to get into people.”
In the end, Quinn gave a lot of credit to the fans. “I don’t think any of us expected the impact they would make. They were incredibly loud and passionate…they had an impact tonight…we can’t thank our fans enough.”
🚨RANGERS FANS BACK AT THE GARDEN🚨 pic.twitter.com/MsDxZRQFIn
— Rangers on MSG (@RangersMSGN) February 26, 2021
Adam Fox has much the same to say, with his parents in the crowd. “It sounded like 20,000 not 2,000.” Ryan Strome said he got a chill hearing the fans during the national anthem.
They have to hope that they get that same boost on Sunday.