Bruins come up short again, lose to Rangers, 5-2

Looking to earn a stripe against one of the Eastern Conference’s rising teams, the Bruins once again showed they just weren’t good enough when facing good competition.

The B’s could not protect a pair of one-goal leads before the New York Rangers overtook them in play and eventually the scoreboard, grabbing a 5-2 victory at the Garden on Friday afternoon.

The Rangers took their first lead of the game at 11:35 off a pretty tic-tac-toe rush play. Ryan Strome made a cross-ice feed to Julien Gauthier on the right wing. Gauthier’s centering feed got through Derek Forbort and then Artemi Panarin beat Brandon Carlo to the front of the net for the chip-in and a 3-2 New York lead.

The B’s had a couple of chances to even it up from Patrice Bergeron and Charlie Coyle but those went for naught. And with the B’s pushing for the equalizer, Alexis LaFreniere finished off a 2-on-1 with 3:38 left in the third to just about seal it. Jacob Trouba finished it off with an empty-netter.

The first period was a typically frustrating one for the Bruins. They dominated on the shot clock, 17-5, took a 1-0 lead and had chances to extend it but could not. And with just under 6 seconds left in the period, the Rangers took advantage of icing-induced fatigue to even the game going into the first break.

After killing off the first penalty of the game, the B’s drew consecutive infractions on the Rangers with a 10-second overlap. They peppered goalie Igor Shesterkin on the near four-minute power play and he was up for the challenge. But just when it looked like the Blueshirts had escaped without any damage, Craig Smith stole the puck from Trouba and, from the slot, he patiently picked his spot over Shesterkin’s blocker and buried at 14:56, a second after Adam Fox got out of the box.

The B’s had a great chance to go up 2-0 when Taylor Hall exploded on a partial break, but Shesterkin made a strong pad save to keep the Rangers deficit at a goal.

But the B’s could not get out of the period without getting nicked.

The fourth line and third pairing got hemmed in their own zone after Anton Blidh’s chip-out made it all the way down for icing and the Rangers were able to get their big guns on the ice. After failing to clear the puck a couple of times, Panarin made a pretty dish to Ryan Strome, who beat Jeremy Swayman with the equalizer from the middle of the ice as the clock showed 5.8 seconds to go in the period.

Swayman’s talents were much needed in the second period right off the bat. Brad Marchand took a quick penalty on the first shift and the rookie had to make a couple of solid stops to maintain the deadlock.

But the B’s were able to forge ahead once again on a beautiful goal from the top line and defense pair. Marchand, who had not been decisive with the puck for a couple of games, took a drop pass from Charlie McAvoy at the right point and spotted Matt Grzelcyk, who had pinched down on the left side. Marchand zipped a beautiful cross-ice diagonal pass to Grzelcyk, who in turn made a one-touch feed to Bergeron for the goal from the top of the crease at 6:51.

Again, the B’s could not create any space and the Rangers clawed back to tie it. Swayman made a pad save on Ryan Lindgren and it went right to a wide-open Dryden Hunt for an easy goal at 12:33.

The Rangers nearly took their first lead of the game shortly after that when Mike Zibanejad had a wide-open net from the left wing but Swayman somehow leaped back and got his paddle on it for a highlight-reel save.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3p2PZUm