If the B's Make the Playoffs This Year, They Need to Avoid the Rangers For As Long As Possible

It is still way too far out to start making playoff plans but let me say this: if Boston (33-25-6) reaches the postseason for the first time in three years, they had better hope that they don't see the Rangers (41-21-2) anytime soon. New York polished off a three-game season sweep of Boston with a playoff-like 2-1 victory tonight at TD Garden. The Rangers have now won five straight games against the Bruins dating back to last season. At this time of the year, there is no solace when you leave points on the table and that's exactly what the B's did although at least they had a much better showing than their pair of 5-2 beatings in both 2016-17 tilts.

Rangers superstar Henrik Lundqvist (32 saves) celebrated his 35th birthday today and he proved to still be one of the best goaltenders in the world. Boston came out strong to start the contest, outshooting New York 9-3 in the first period, but it was shades of Claude Julien's teams the last few seasons as they couldn't convert any of those prime scoring chances. The rest of New York woke up in the second period and outshot Boston 11-8 but it was still 0-0 with both power plays shooting blanks (0-for-2).

Tuukka Rask (19 saves) wasn't nearly as busy as his counterpart until two unlikely Rangers beat him with sweet shots early in the third period. Pavel Buchnevich-fresh off the bus from Hartford (where he scored two goals including the game-winner for the Wolf Pack last night)-put the puck top-shelf by Rask at 5:10. Zdeno Chara for some reason let the young Russian skate to the slot where he unloaded a heavy shot. Nick Holden and the ghost of Rick Nash assisted on Buchnevich's seventh goal of the season (his 1st for NYR since Jan. 19). Oscar Lindberg made a sweet move around Brandon Carlo and then roofed the puck to the far side top corner at 9:35 for a sudden 2-0 Rangers lead. Matt Puempel and Brady Skjei (who for all I know could be background characters in an 80s romantic comedy) had the helpers on Lindberg's fifth goal of the season.

Under Julien, that would have been all she wrote for the B's but with Cassidy (who fell to 7-2-0 overall, 4-1-0 at home), their resilience is much more noticeable. While he was getting taken down by a New York defenseman, David Pastrnak managed with one hand to shovel the puck towards Lundqvist. Brad Marchand of course was right there on the doorstep to knock the puck in after a few Tinder-like swipes at 12:56. Colin Miller had the second assist on Marchand's team-leading 29th goal of the season. Marchand has 22 points (12 goals, 10 assists) in his last 14 games and that goal extended his point-streak to four games (4 goals, 4 assists). Pastrnak remained hot as well (am I right ladies?) with 15 points (6 goals, 9 assists) in his last 11 games.

Boston had all the momentum and plenty of time left to find a tying goal but a shaky at best goalie interference call on David Backes derailed things with 2:22 left in regulation. I really respect almost everything about Lundqvist except his propensity to flop like a professional soccer player (he is Swedish after all). If you watch many Rangers games, you'll notice that he's often in collisions or plays that he makes look worse than they really turn out to be. God bless NHL referees since it appears that they still haven't figured this out about the man they call the King (that's not named LeBron). New York did nothing on that power play but it mattered little since when Backes finally got out of the penalty box, the tilt was nearly over.

The B's saw their four-game winning streak at the Garden end this evening but they will have a great chance to start another one on Saturday night (7, NESN) as they host the wretched Devils (25-26-12). There is no excuse for the Bruins not to comfortably beat that terrible team that is going nowhere (except the NHL Draft lottery) fast. As we speak, New Jersey is only two points ahead of both Carolina (25-25-10) and Detroit (25-26-10) who are bringing up the rear in the Eastern Conference. In other words, they suck. If I was Cassidy, I would probably start backup goaltender Anton Khudobin (3-5-1) since anyone not named Malcolm Subban should be able to get a win vs. New Jersey.

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With Everything to Play For, Rask Sits Out (Illness) & B's Predictably Fall Flat on Their Face

Before the all-important game against the Senators (38-35-9) had even started this afternoon, you knew that something was up when the Bruins (42-31-9) called up goaltender Jeremy Smith from Providence on an emergency basis. Apparently Tuukka Rask was very sick and after taking a few shots during warm-ups, he simply couldn't continue. He left for the dressing room, never to be seen again today (and possibly much longer this off-season). If you can believe it, things only got worse from that ominous beginning as Ottawa blasted Boston 6-1 in the regular season finale at TD Garden.

This isn't to say that backup goaltender Jonas Gustavsson (30 saves) is solely to blame for the loss. In fact, I don't think the outcome wouldn't have been any different with Rask in goal since Boston's terrible defense had to remind everyone once more just how hopeless they were for most of this campaign. Plus the B's finished under .500 at home this season (17-18-6; only other Eastern Conference teams to do that were Buffalo and Toronto). Still, if it was just an illness (bad sushi?) for Rask-the franchise goaltender-you can understand why he'll be hammered on the radio and TV for months if not years to come around here.

The Bruins actually scored first as David Pastrnak made it 1-0 at 5:04 (the second straight game that he'd opening the scoring) on a goal that looked offside but it was reviewed and held up for once. Brad Marchand and Max Talbot assisted on Pastrnak's 15th goal of the season as he got behind Ottawa's defense and then beat Andrew Hammond (39 saves) upstairs. Boston led 1-0 after the first period but they were outshot 17-10 so you knew that eventually the roof would cave in if they kept allowing that many quality chances.

Sure enough, the mighty Senators (who had nothing to play for but pride) hit the B's with a flurry of four goals in a span of 8:18 in the second period to put it way out of reach already. It was a microcosm of Boston's disappointing season as goon Chris Neil outhustled them to jam in the tying goal at 1:42, Nick Paul and Ryan Dzingel assisted on his fifth goal of the season. After that, Ottawa scored three virtually identical goals all on re-directed shots. Zach Smith tipped in Erik Karlsson's shot at 5:54 for his 24th goal of the season and Karlsson's NHL-leading 66th helper with Fredrik Claesson picking up the second assist. Less than three minutes later, Puempel re-directed a pass from Phil Varone with Buddy Robinson (are those real people?) for his second goal of the season. Mika Zibanejad put the final nail in Boston's coffin by tipping in a pass from Mike Hoffman at 10:00 for his 21st goal of the season. Bruins head coach Claude Julien took his timeout but by then, it was long over and you have to feel the same way about his storied tenure in Boston (remember he is the team's all-time winningest coach).

Other than rookie defenseman Colin Miller's fight with Mike Kostka, the Black and Gold showed barely a pulse or any semblance of heart in the third period. Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Smith both added empty-netters as Julien tried to coax a goal out of his power play unit but nothing worked in this miserable performance for his club. Ironically, Detroit (41-30-11) lost 3-2 at the Rangers (46-27-9) this afternoon which meant that a Bruins win would have gifted them third-place in the Atlantic Division. Instead the Red Wings clinched a playoff spot for the 25th straight season (extending their American pro sports record). Now the B's are down to their last hope: they need the Flyers (currently tied 1-1 at Pittsburgh in the second period) to lose today and also tomorrow night at the Islanders (45-26-9). If Philly is able to scratch together two points between those two tilts, they will get the second Wild Card in the Eastern Conference and the rough prize of the Capitals (55-17-8) in the first-round of the playoffs.

If Boston doesn't get that aforementioned miracle and they miss the postseason for the second year in a row, there is no chance that Julien keeps his job here again, right? Clearly, it is not all his fault that the front office made some terrible moves (trading for Jimmy Hayes, not having more NHL-ready defensemen, etc) and many of his players underperformed but he tapped dance past the firing line last summer and I don't think that he could make that magic happen again, especially so soon thereafter. This franchise has so many issues at the moment but unfortunately for Cladue, getting rid of him would be the easy first move for GM Don Sweeney.

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Spooner (2 goals) & Rask Propel Bruins to Crucial 3-1 Road Win at Senators

In any sport, a sign of a good team is when they don't even play that well yet still manage to come away with a victory. Boston (34-22-10) experienced that tonight special phenomenon at Canadian Tire Centre as they beat Ottawa (30-24-11) 3-1. The Senators outshot the Bruins 40-22 (32-14 over the final two periods) but Boston was able to take advantage of two goals from Ryan Spooner (in his hometown no less) and 39 saves by Tuukka Rask (27-16-10).

The win was Boston's third in a row and they improved to 6-1-1 in their last eight games. After a dull and scoreless first period, Spooner got to work early in the second period. He ripped a goal from the slot on the power play at 1:02 that might have gone off the post and in (I thought I heard that sound but I might be losing it). Krug and Hamilton had the assists on Spooner's second goal of the season. Loui Eriksson scored his prettiest goal as a Bruin to make it 2-0 at 15:21. Hamilton got the assist but Eriksson did the hard part on his 17th goal of the season by avoiding a Senator then stickhandling around goaltender Craig Anderson (19 saves) to slot it in the net.

Milan Lucic made an awesome power drive to the net before dishing to Spooner who tapped the puck in for his second goal of the game at 16:53 of the second period. David Pastrnak supplied the other assist. It felt like that goal took all the energy out of the building. Much like the first period, little happened for a while but it finally picked up with one of the flukiest goals that you'll ever see. Patrick Wiercioch's shot went off the back wall right to rookie Matt Puempel who was able to score his first career NHL goal. Jean-Gabrie Pageau had the other assist at 8:30 of the third period.

These two points were so huge for the B's since now they are up seven points on the Senators although Ottawa has played one less game. Philadelphia lost 2-1 to Dallas so they have fallen nine points behind the Bruins so see ya later! I think that any day now that we'll be saying a similar taunt to the Senators.

It is undoubtedly a tough stretch for Boston with a showdown vs. Tampa Bay (42-20-6) on Thursday (7, NESN) at the Garden before a weekend trip to Pittsburgh (38-18-10) on Saturday (1, NESN) and Washington (36-21-10) on Sunday night (7:30, NBCSN). Ottawa had been the hottest team in the NHL (8-1-1 in their last 10 games) but they were still clearly the worst out of the four that Boston faces this week.

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