Slumps and bad results will happen from time-to-time but the main issue stemming from this evening was that Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask (6 saves) was concussed on a scary play in the first period. Up 1-0, Boston gave up the tying goal 1:04 after that as Rangers rookie left wing Filip Chytil went flying towards the net and stickhandled around Rask before barrelling into him. Chytil's ninth goal of the season was unassisted but nobody cared. Rask lay on the ice for a long time then was gingerly helped up then off the ice balanced by the arms of some teammates. Backup goaltender Jaroslav Halak (11 saves, 13-9-2) was summoned with 1:23 left in the first.
New York is 3-0-1 now in its last four games vs. Boston but things looked positive earlier on as Danton Heinen redirected a pass from linemate Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson at 17:28 of the first period for a 1-0 B's lead. The Bruins had been 17-4-3 when they scored first this season but that didn't hold up in this one. Before Heinen's sixth goal of the season, the Bruins showed a nice little tribute video for defenseman and Stanley Cup champion Adam McQuaid who was traded to the Rangers during training camp in September. Boston's power play was a mess all night (0 for 5 including a double-minor where they could barely generate anything). What made that even more painful is the fact that New York came in with one of the worst penalty kill units in the league (27th).
Goaltender Henrik Lundqvist (27 saves, 15-12-7) has always been a Bruins killer as evidenced by his 28-13-2 career record against them. This matchup was no different as he made a bunch of quality saves and it also helped that his teammates blocked 12 shots while Boston missed the net a whopping 15 times as well. Mika Zibanejad gave the Rangers their first lead of the contest when he tipped in Brady Skjei's shot at 5:22 of the second period. Mats Zuccarello had the second assist on Zibanejad's 16th goal of the season.
Boston fell to 1-14-2 when trailing after two periods despite the fact that they tied it up early in the third period. Brad Marchand one-timed a Pastrnak feed from close range, 2-2. Patrice Bergeron had the other assist on Marchand's 19th goal of the season. Again, New York had a timely response as Zibanejad bagged the game-winning goal on the power play at 9:05. With a screen in front of Halak, he was able to whip a hard shot past him, assisted by BU's Kevin Shattenkirk and Zuccarello. Not much else transpired after that besides McQuaid beating the hell out of Chris Wagner after he mistakenly thought that the Bruins' fourth-liner had taken a run at right Jesper Fast (sadly, he hadn't).
The other nice part about the break for the B's is that when they return-their first practice back here is a week from Monday-they get two more games at the Garden. They host one of the NHL's best teams-the Jets (31-15-2) on Tuesday (7, NESN) before they get a return meeting with the Flyers on Thursday (7, NESN). Let's all think good thoughts for Rask who was 6-0-1 in his last seven starts and on the verge of setting Boston's franchise record for wins (he's stuck on 252). Halak was great at the beginning of the season when Tuukka was shaky but lately he's been much more the journeyman that his NHL resume would seem to indicate.
Stay safe in the snowstorm everybody in New England and root on the Patriots tomorrow (6:40, CBS) at top-seeded Kansas City in their eighth straight AFC Championship Game. We all need a little break from hockey for a bit before coming back for the final 33 games of the regular season that will surely fly by as it always does.
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