Artemi Panarin's hat trick helps the New York Rangers overcome the Boston Bruins
By Conor Power
Simply put, your difference maker tonight is Artemi Panarin. The Breadman delivering pucks to breadbaskets all night long allowed the Rangers to walk out of Boston with the two points. New York's stars sparkled tonight, they had to. But no one has shone brighter than Panarin has this year for a long time in New York. He's becoming one of the greatest players to don the Blueshirt, and it's great to see.
Boston opened the scoring when they were able to get the puck in behind the Erik Gustafsson and Chad Ruhwedel pairing. The forecheck allowed the Bruins to win the puck and pull it back to Jake DeBrusk who put it home. The sparkling young player continuing to prove that he is a key piece of this Bruins roster, and they now controlled the game. The fight back from the Rangers couldn't wait, or the Bruins would just suffocate this one.
The second period would see the Rangers fight back in a big way. Braden Schneider carries the puck into the offensive zone on an odd-man rush. His pass into the slot is fumbled by Artemi Panarin, but the Russian winger is able to gather it and fire home between the legs of Jeremy Swayman and the Rangers were back on equal terms with the Bruins.
The Breadman would strike again before the conclusion of the period when Alex Wennberg's forecheck would force a turnover. Panarin tried to give it back to the Swedish centerman, but it took a bounce off a diving Bruin in front and beat Ullmark to give Panarin his second goal of the period. New York had taken over and now had momentum to build on moving into the remainder of this game.
Boston would not die without a fight when a Brad Marchand shot was loose in the crease when Jonathan Quick couldn't control the rebound. Justin Brazeau was able to beat everyone else on the ice to the loose puck and put it home to tie the game up in the third. So now, it was Boston 2, Panarin 2, and the Rangers needed someone to stand up and help themselves when they are down multiple defensemen. They needed a star.
Step forth, Adam Fox. Jack Roslovic carried the puck from the corner getting it back to the point for Fox who gave it back to the former Blue Jacket. Roslovic dropped it for Mika Zibanejad who went back to the point for Erik Gustafsson. Gustafsson set up for who started to walk down the boards with the puck before picking his corner and firing home from the circle to restore the Rangers lead.
New York would strike the empty net twice, once by Zibanejad before Panarin would complete his hat trick in Boston and move onto 97 points on the season, a career high. This would also get Panarin to the 40 goal mark for the first time in his career. The Rangers star winger has been everything we could have asked as he took over this game and sparkled as the Rangers take the win.