The Bruins Don't Bother To Show Up In A Lifeless 4-0 Shutout Loss At The Garden Vs. The Rangers

 

    I'm told that there was a hockey game this afternoon at the TD Garden but what we all witnessed on NESN was far from it as the Rangers (11-12-13) turned the tables on the Bruins (14-7-4) and blanked them 4-0, the same score that Boston had beaten them by on Thursday. Woof, B's fans should just be happy that nobody was allowed in the building to watch this garbage, what a pathetic performance by the home team. Boston had a season-low 18 shots on goal which were all stopped by New York's third-string goaltender Keith Kinkaid (1-1). The Black and Gold's normally incredible top line had a terrible outing and Boston's power play was 0-for-5 so it's pretty hard for them to win when both of those things happen in the same tilt. 

    Left wing Jake DeBrusk was a last-minute scratch due to Covid-19 protocols, the perfect follow-up to what we hoped was a slump-busting goal in Thursday's victory. New York really needed a win and they played with that type of desperation from start to finish unlike the Bruins who played like they didn't want to be there. Defenseman K'Andre Miller wired home a strong wrist shot from the point at 3:06 of the first period for a 1-0 New York lead. Right wing Pavel Buchnevich and center Mika Zibanejad provided the assists on his second goal of the season. Up 1-0 after the first period, NY doubled its lead in the second period as BC's Chris Kreider crushed a one-timer from Zibanejad and defenseman Jacob Trouba. It was the team-leading 14th goal of the season for the Boxford, MA native and it came at 5:42. 

    Boston got outshot in every frame so expecting a comeback on this day was simply not a reasonable possibility. Today was Rangers star left wing Artemi Panarin's first game since February 20 (no worries, he was just dealing with the Russian mob trying to blackmail him) and he made an impact as he found center Ryan Strome for another one-timer that ended up in the back of Boston's net. That increased New York's lead to 3-0 at 8:03 of the third period with Harvard's Colin Blackwell picking up the secondary assist on Strome's 10th goal of the season. The final goal for the Rangers was called "a gift" by NESN's color commentator Andy Brickley and I have to agree with his pissed off homer assessment. A lazy turnover right in front of Bruins goaltender Jaroslav Halak (29 saves, 6-3-2) allowed Buchnevich to pad his stats with his eighth goal of the season, assisted by Kreider at 16:12.

    As you would expect, the Bruins get a day off tomorrow to recharge their bodies and minds before a very busy week that includes four road games in six days. First up, Boston plays a back-to-back in Pittsburgh (17-9-1) on Monday (7, NESN) and Tuesday (7, NESN). The Penguins have won their last five games in a row and they are three points ahead of the B's for third-place in the East Division but at least Boston does have two games in hand. That will be tough, especially since goalie Dan Vladar might have to make his NHL debut in one of those games if Tuukka Rask is still out dealing with back injury that is not getting nearly enough attention. The end of the week is guaranteed to be easier as the B's get their first two matchups of the season against the Sabres (6-16-4) aka the worst team in the NHL. Their best player BU's Jack Eichel is out for awhile dealing with a neck injury while his hapless team is 0-8-2 in its last 10 games. Boston visits Buffalo on Thursday (7, NESN) and Saturday afternoon (1, NESN). The Black and Gold typically own the Sabres therefore nothing less than four points from those two contests will be acceptable.

For The Second Straight Night, The Bruins Got Absolutely Blown Out By A Team In New York

 

    Running out of gas in the third period last night in Long Island and losing 7-2 to the Islanders (10-6-3) after giving up five goals in the third period was one thing but tonight at Madison Square Garden, the Bruins (11-5-2) fell apart one period earlier in a humbling 6-2 defeat to the Rangers (7-8-3). After goaltender Jaroslav Halak had to play the entire game vs. the Isles, goaltender Tuukka Rask (28 saves, 7-3-1) was up next to absorb an ugly loss for the B's. Boston has dropped four of its last five games and in all of those losses, they have scored exactly two goals. It's tough to complain about much since they got off to such an incredible start to this season but truth be told, they were probably due for a market correction around this time.

    To New York's credit, they stepped on Boston's throat from the beginning and never really let up. Something called Phillip Di Giuseppe opened the scoring for the Rangers as defenseman Julian Gauthier's shot deflected in thanks to the puck hitting the left wing while he was parked in a screening position on Rask. Former Bruins prospect Ryan Lindgren provided the secondary assist on Di Giuseppe's first goal of the season at 13:16 of the first period. New York doubled its lead early in the second period when center Ryan Strome whipped in a snap shot (his 6th goal of the season) from rookie left wing-and No. 1 overall pick-Alexis Lafreniere and BC's Chris Kreider at 2:32. 

    The Bruins showed a bit of a pulse before a quick flurry by the Rangers put this one to bed. The captain Patrice Bergeron re-directed a pass from right wing David Pastrnak and left wing Brad Marchand. Bergy's eighth goal of the season came at 4:02 and it cut the Rangers' lead down to 2-1. Two local guys scored 12 seconds apart to make New York's advantage way bigger heading into the third period. Harvard's Colin Blackwell tipped in a shot by his former Crimson teammate defenseman Adam Fox for a power play goal. The St. John's Prep alum's fourth goal of the season also featured a helper by Strome at 18:52. I'm guessing that Kreider's goal (his 9th of the season) at 19:04 is the one that Rask would most like to have back. Kreider didn't have much of an angle to shoot from and it wasn't a great shot but nonetheless it still went in the net with Strome registering the lone assist. 

    The entire third period was garbage time as far as I'm concerned and the B's played like it was since Rangers right wing Pavel Buchnevich and center Jonny Brodzinski each added a goal to make the final score even more impressive or depressing depending on who you root for. Boston's top line got the final goal as Marchand was rewarded for going to the net and sticking his large nose into the mix. His team-leading 10th goal of the season was also the 300th of his NHL career and he became only the seventh Bruin ever to reach that lofty mark. The B's will have a light practice tomorrow before a Sunday afternoon matinee (12, NBC) back at MSG. I couldn't tell you which Bruins goaltender will start but I feel like we could see Rangers goaltender Alexander Georgiev (31 saves, 3-2-2) again after he helped beat the Black and Gold tonight. B's defenseman Matt Grzelcyk is on this trip so there's been talk that he could return on Sunday. Their defense could certainly use any help that it can get as they try to avoid an 0-3 road trip (Celtics style!).

What Rust? Pasta Nets His 3rd Hat Trick of the Season & 5 Points As The B's Beat The Rangers 6-3

When most players miss a significant amount of time and game action, it normally takes them at least a little while to get back up to speed. Bruins (47-21-9) superstar David Pastrnak is not like everyone else though. After being out for 16 games with his mysterious thumb injury, it basically took him a single contest to sort things out and since then he has multiple points in each of his last four games. Tonight at TD Garden vs. the Rangers (29-34-13)-who started mailing it in weeks ago-he was brilliant with his fourth career hat trick (3rd of 2018-19) and five points overall in Boston's 6-3 victory. The B's have won their last 12 games in a row on home ice which is their longest run since 14 games back in 2008-2009. Pastrnak set a career-high for points in a single game as he became the first Bruin since Cam Neely in 1993-94 to bag three hat tricks in a single season.

Coming off of Monday's disappointing 5-4 loss in Tampa Bay (59-14-4), the Bruins predictably bounced back in a big way as they improved to 29-7-3 at the Garden which is only topped by the Lightning's incomparable home dominance (32-6-2). With Torey Krug (2 assists) back in action after missing the past six games with a concussion, the B's power play more closely resembled the No. 3 unit in the NHL as they went a ridiculous 4-for-6 on the man advantage. Boston never trailed as the best the AHL (many players in their lineup were recently called up from Hartford) Rangers could muster was a 1-1 tie before the B's went ahead in the second period and didn't look back with four goals in the third period including three power play goals in the span of 4:20 (somewhere Snoop Dogg smiles).

New York was called for a pair of too many men on the ice penalties and both times, Boston made them pay for their silly mistakes. Pastrnak hammered in a one-timer (his 34th goal of the season) from Brad Marchand (3 assists) and Patrice Bergeron (extending Brad and Patrice's home point-streak to a ridiculous 17 games) at 2:48 of the 1st period for a 1-0 Bruins lead. You could make a solid argument that Mika Zibanejad (2 goals) and Ryan Strome (goal, assist) were the only Rangers to really do anything notable this evening. Zibanejad tied it with a nifty move and power play goal of his own at 16:29 of the first period. Strome and Pavel Buchnevich had the assists on the Swede's 29th goal of the season.

The Rangers could never really figure out that it's important to cover Pasta and to not let him set up shop in the slot, something that also somehow always seems to elude the Bruins' minds whenever they play Steven Stamkos or Alex Ovechkin. Pastrnak tied his career-high with his 35th goal of the season at 9:15 of the second period. David Krejci (2 assists) and Krug had the helpers on another one-timer that put Torey into the Bruins' record book with the most points ever by an American (284). Boston took a 3-1 lead early in the third period (3:19) as Jake DeBrusk put in an awesome cross-ice feed from Pastrnak. Krejci had the second assist on DeBrusk's 24th goal of the season. Strome briefly cut it to 3-2 Bruins as he potted a rebound at 5:43 for his 16th goal of the season, assisted by Brett Howden and Brady Skjei.

It wouldn't stay close for very long since New York couldn't stay out of the penalty box which in turn allowed Boston to keep lighting the lamp like it was going out of style. Pasta got his hat trick at 12:52, from Krug and Marchand, on a shot that I'm sure the former King Henrik Lundqvist (26 saves) would love to have back. It looked like Pastrnak scored yet again at 16:23 but the power play tally went to Bergeron who tipped in David's shot with Marchand picking up the second assist. Charlie McAvoy jumped up in a rush on another power play and was able to get on the scoresheet with his seventh goal of the season at 17:12 from Zdeno Chara and Charlie Coyle which made it 6-2 in favor of the home team. In the ultimate sign of garbage time stat padding, Zibanejad notched his first 30-goal season in the NHL with four seconds left in regulation.

Jaroslav Halak (20 saves, 21st win of the season) didn't have to do all that much but he still improved to 8-1-2 in his last 11 decisions. He's played in only five less games (38) than Tuukka Rask (26-11-5) which should keep the latter as fresh as he can be when the playoffs start in a few weeks. Toronto (45-25-7) lost 5-4 in a shootout tonight at Philly (37-32-8) meaning that Boston gained another point on the Leafs and has six more than them with both clubs only having five games left in the regular season. The Bruins are off tomorrow before getting a practice in on Friday ahead of an extremely winnable back-to-back this weekend: Saturday afternoon (1, NESN) vs. Florida (33-32-12) and Sunday night (7:30, NBC Sports) at Detroit (28-38-10). Like the Rangers, neither of those teams have anything tangible to play for so they are liable to roll over if Boston can get an early lead on them.

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I Never Thought I'd Say This But Khudobin Gives the B's a Much Better Chance to Win Than Rask

Tuukka Rask (3-8-2) made his first start in 11 days (November 15 at Anaheim was his last outing) but despite 32 mostly run-of-the-mill saves, he couldn't add to his meager win total as Edmonton (9-13-2) wrapped up a bumpy five-game road trip with a 4-2 victory tonight at TD Garden. Boston (10-8-4) saw its modest four-game winning streak come to an end as Rask has yet to record a win since November 6 at Minnesota (5-3). The Celtics (18-3) are the best team in the Eastern Conference and the Patriots (9-2) might be the top team in the NFL, so the Bruins' cloudy goaltending situation won't nearly get the attention as those more worthy clubs but I have to admit that it is getting pretty damn interesting.

Anton Khudobin (7-0-2) has won his last four straight starts and he hasn't lost in regulation this entire season (7-0-2). Still, Rask is the undisputed No. 1 (at least for the time being) so he had to get back in there at some point and the Oilers seemed like a good spot for him since they had dropped four out of their last five contests. Boston got off to a good start as David Pastrnak scored a power play goal at 14:03 of the first period for a 1-0 lead. Torey Krug and Rask had the assists on Pasta's team-leading 12th goal of the season. He finished the shot right in the nick of time before he got flattened by a pair of Edmonton players and Cam Talbot (23 saves)-who's had a miserable campaign himself-couldn't react to it in time.

Patrick Maroon apparently lives to play in Boston as he followed up his hat trick here last year with another goal, this one tying things up at 9:50 of the second period. Zach Kassian found him with a cross-ice pass and he was able to beat Rask up high to the top shelf for his seventh goal of the season. Edmonton took a 2-1 lead less than five minutes later at 14:20 as Adam Larsson (how's that Taylor Hall trade looking this season? Haha woof!) had a shot from the point deflect in off Charlie McAvoy's skate. Larsson's third goal of the season was assisted by the newly-acquired Mike Cammalleri and some nobody named Connor McDavid. The B's continued to get outshot at an alarming rate (17-5 in the 2nd!) but somehow it was knotted at two after two frames as David Krejci roofed one by Talbot at 15:31. Riley Nash, his temporary linemate, and Krug provided the assists on Krejci's third goal of the season.

With everything to play for in the third, Boston finally stepped on the gas-outshooting Edmonton 14-9-but it didn't really matter as a defensive breakdown allowed Ryan Strome to be wide open in the slot for an easy goal at 2:07 that Rask couldn't be expected to save in most instances. Leon Draisaitl had the lone helper on Strome's fourth goal of the season. Talbot came in with a horrid 3.13 goals against average so he tried his best to give away the lead but the Bruins couldn't take advantage of a shaky goaltender on the other end. Draisaitl ended it with an empty-net goal at 19:09: his first attempt was blocked but he stuck with it for his seventh goal of the season, assist by McDavid and old friend Milan Lucic (who earlier was mistakenly credited with Larsson's goal).

So where do the Black and Gold go from here? Well they are off tomorrow and then get back to practice on Tuesday before Tampa Bay (16-5-2)-the top team in the Eastern Conference and one point behind St. Louis (17-6-1) who has played one more game-is here for rivalry night on Wednesday (7:30, NBC Sports Network). Boston head coach Bruce Cassidy has been around for too long to be baited into committing too early to his starting goaltender for that tilt but I honestly would be surprised if he goes back to Rask in that one. I still have a hard time explaining the reason behind it (maybe just that some things in life are unexplainable, son) but the fact remains that the Bruins are a unquestionably better team when Khudobin is in the net and not Rask. Tuukka wasn't bad today but a shutout or perhaps stealing a win for the B's-which is basically what he had to do-would have gone a long way at least in the near future for the struggling Finn.

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