Rangers winning streak snapped in defeat to the Boston Bruins

Boston has been one of the hottest teams in the NHL to start the season and they continued their hot start against the New York Rangers. A 5-2 win for the Bruins sees the Rangers lose for the first time in four games. In a game that harkened back to the mid 90s, the two original six franchises went at it throwing everything at one another. Fights, line brawls, and full on distaste for each other made this one quite enjoyable.

Starting with the worst news of the night for the Rangers, defensemen Ryan Lindgren was forced out of this game in the first period after being interfered with by David Pastrnak. At this point, Gerard Gallant has not said anything regarding the well-being of the former Boston Bruins draft pick. It’s another injury for a Rangers’ squad that has been fighting the bug for as long as the season has been going.

New York’s resiliency was tested. Levelling the scores on two different ocassions, the Bruins just proved to have too much firepower in the end. New York could only muster 20 shots on Linus Ullmark while surrendering 37 to the Bruins. This game proves that the Rangers are still not on the same level as some of the best teams in the NHL yet. This will change as the team grows into the season, but there are undoubtedly growing pains.

Powerplay trouble in this one didn’t help either. New York failed to record a shot on their first powerplay of the night. They wouldn’t convert on the second powerplay either and a man advantage that usually generates momentum and chances galore just couldn’t find its footing in this game. With the penalty kill being fine, the powerplay just struggled.

For New York, this defeat drops them to fourth in the Metropolitan and the second wild card spot. Two points back of the division leading New Jersey Devils having played a game more. A point behind the Carolina Hurricanes having played two games more, and equal on points with the New York Islanders having played a game more. It’s not an ideal situation, but it is the situation the Rangers are in.

Up next for the Rangers, it’s the Detroit Red Wings at home in Madison Square Garden. That game is Sunday at 5 PM Eastern. New York will look to get back in the victory column as the Bruins just straight up beat them tonight. Detroit is not the same caliber as the Bruins, but if the Rangers want to get back to being considered one of the division favorites, they need to be beating teams like Detroit.