Bruised, battered, and Bruin’d: Rangers routed in ugly defeat.

Ryan Lindgren went down on Thursday night and so did the New York  Rangers, as the NHL-best  Boston Bruins used a four-goal third period en route to a convincing  5-2 victory on Garden ice. The win improved Boston’s record to 10-1-0, which shouldn’t be taken lightly, as they’ve done this without a top defenseman Charlie Mcavoy and stalwart David Krejci.

The Rangers meanwhile, were exploited defensively, as the early loss of Lindgren due to an upper-body injury, cut their game lineup down to four defensemen who ultimately couldn’t keep up with the speed, size, and skill of the B’s.

From the outset, Boston established their tenacious fortitude and set the tone for a chippy affair.  But energized by the challenge, the Blueshirts punched back and drew the game’s first penalty, when David Pasternak, enraged by a Ryan Lindgren smash, was clipped for interference in his chase for revenge. Unfortunately for New York, Lindgren was shaken up,  wouldn’t return, and is currently listed as “Day-Day”.

After the league’s-best penalty kill did their thing, Pasternak avenged things in the best way possible, lifting a backhander past Igor Shesterkin for a 1-0 Bruins lead. Late in the frame,   the B’s looked to punctuate a  rousing first period by doubling their lead,  but Shesterkin denied Tomas Nosekon a breakaway and kept the Rangers within one, after one.

The Rangers muscled up in the second both literally and figuratively, enabling the hostility this grudge match entailed. Midway through the period,  Mika Zibanejad broke down the right side and fed the puck across the slot to  Jimmy Vesey, who beat Lindus Ullmark for the equalizer and his first goal of the season.

The tally changed the complexion of the contest, revitalizing MSG, and their heroes weren’t done just yet. Thirty-seven seconds later, Braiden Schneider flattened AJ Greer into the boards, and the two 208-pounders went fist to cuffs, while Trent Fredric found his own sparring partner in Barclay Goodrow. After the dust settled, all four were boxed for game misconduct penalties, with Greer getting the double whammy for instigating the altercation.

However, despite the man advantage, the Rangers were again fizzled by Boston’s NHL-leading butchers, and the game remained tied entering intermission.

The third period was expected to be a classic nail-biter between the two longtime rivals. Instead, we bore witness to the Bruins bullet train, as they railroaded New York over the final 20 minutes, handing them a humbling home defeat. As they did in their comeback from a 5-2 deficit in their win at the Pittsburg Penguins on Tuesday, Boston found an extra gear that the Rangers simply didn’t have.

The first signs of despair arose when Hampus Lindholm found the NetFront where an outmaneuvered Jacob  Trouba watched  Charlie Coyle put his stick on it for a 2-1 visitors lead. Their momentum was short-lived, however, as Adam Fox rifled the disc top-shelf, squaring the game at two.

As perusal in a tight contest, New York looked to Shesterkin for some game-saving stops, but he allowed a juicy rebound for the taking, and Nick Foligno wasted no time, whipping it to Fredric, whose blast with 14:00 remaining put the Bruins on top for good.

The beatdown ensued from there, as Taylor Hall outhustled Fox to the puck and connected with Pavel Zacha, leading to a transition goal by Jake Debrusk. The tally gave Boston insurance with 9:41 left, effectively airing out the Garden.

Boston would add insult to injury by way of the empty-netter, as  Lindholm hit the target to ice his team’s seventh straight win.

“I thought they just kind of got back on top of us in the third”, Trouba said postgame, as New York’s captain echoed the sentiment of the despondent locker room.

LET THERE BE LIBERTY:

The  Rangers debuted their retro jerseys on Thursday. The look is akin to the primaries the franchise donned from 1996-97 to 2006-07 but is presented in a brighter context of blue. The fit was ranked 13th in the league in a fan poll conducted by JFresh Hockey.

UP NEXT:

The Rangers(6-4-2) will face their second straight original six rival(As I accidentally pitted the Flyers as an original six team in my last piece ) on Sunday afternoon, when ex-Blueshirt Andrew Copp,  makes his Garden return and the Detroit Red Wings(5-3-2) come to town. Puck drop is slated for 5:00 PM, with gates opening at 4:30 PM.