Just two days after putting a 7 spot up on the scoreboard against the Montreal Canadiens, the Bruins failed to find the back of the net in a 1-0 Saturday matinee sleepwalk versus the New York Rangers at TD Garden. Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist stopped all 26 shots he faced to record his league-leading 11th shutout in his 400th NHL game.
One of the Bruins' first quality scoring chances of the game was taken away just over 2 minutes into the game when Brad Marchand's breakaway was halted by a fight between Gregory Campbell and Sean Avery away from the play.
Derek Stepan scored the game's lone goal at 6:39 when he deflected Michael Sauer's shot from the right point past Tuukka Rask for his 20th goal of the season. The goal came directly off an offensive zone face-off for the Rangers after an apparent blown offsides non-call allowed the Rangers to gain the zone. On the face-off after the Rangers gained the blue line, left wing Vinny Prospal was well inside the face-off circle before the puck was dropped and gained possession of the puck due in large part to him lining up in an illegal position on the draw that was won by Stepan. The officials let both plays go and it led directly to what proved to be the game-winning goal for the Rangers.
The Bruins finally showed some signs of life in the third period by out-shooting the Rangers 12-1 in the final frame. The B's had some solid scoring chances in the game's final minutes, but Henrik Lundqvist continued to slam the door on the home team.
The Bruins will not have too much time dwell on the loss. The team left for Philadelphia after the game, where they are scheduled to take on the Eastern Conference-leading Flyers on Sunday night.
Notes:
- The Bruins honored former Bruins radio announcer Bob Wilson by dedicating the home radio booth to the hockey broadcasting legend.
- It was a New York block party today as the Rangers blocked 29 shots.
- Tuukka Rask stopped 22 of 23 shots today and was once again a hard luck loser. Rask was awarded the game's Third Star.
- Steven Kampfer and Daniel Paille were the healthy scratches for the Bruins.
- Former BU standout Matt Gilroy was a healthy scratch for the Rangers.
- The Rangers are 27-0-0 this season after when leading after 2 periods.
Quotes:
"Some teams and buildings you have better luck I guess. I feel comfortable here. Also the team plays solid here. It’s a combination of a lot."
Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist on playing in Boston
"No, no. Quit picking apart, Sam. I’m pretty happy about the win. Jesus Christ. Nope, next question, please. My gosh."
Rangers Head Coach John Tortorella responding to MSG's Sam Rosen's questioned about if he is worried about only scoring one goal in two of the last three games
"Well they battled really hard, blocking shots and focusing on the tough play. They got one goal early, then they just stuck to the program, blocked as many shots as they can, and just didn’t get enough traffic in front of the net. We did the last six-seven minutes, but that’s not enough if you want to win a game against a team like that."
Dennis Seidenberg
Both. It was a missed off-sides, but they make mistakes, but then the guy jumps in and the guy who passed it to the point was obviously in and it should have been blown down. So, that one point, you know? There’s one mulligan but I didn’t feel that they needed two.
Claude Julien when ask if he thought the blown off-sides non-call or the Rangers cheating on the face-off lead to the Ranger's goal
"They’re a pretty dedicated group at getting in the shooting lanes. They’ve always been that way and that’s what they did tonight. Obviously you want your guys to find those shooting lanes and you want to get those pucks through, but even at the end when we were firing away late in the third, they were all collapsed and doing whatever they had to do to block shots. They were willing to pay the price."
Claude Julien on the Rangers ability to block shots
"Yeah, that’s often a good thing. We don’t have time to dwell on this one here. You got to turn the page. You win the big game tomorrow in Philadelphia, and you’ve had a pretty tough week against some pretty good hockey clubs. If you can come out of the there 3-1, with the week, it’s been a pretty good week. So that’s what we’ve got to focus on. Let’s turn the page on this one here and hopefully be a better team tomorrow."
Claude Julien on having to play in Philadelphia on Sunday
"I thought, well the guys were saying that the guy next to Looch there in the faceoff left early, and that’s what they were talking about. But I don’t know, I didn’t see the play before. But no matter what he had a good tip."
Tuukka Rask on the goal
"Yeah, you know what he’s got a really good technique. He’s really solid, he’s square to the puck, square to the shooter at all times. And he just doesn’t make any extra moves. And like today especially you saw the puck just seems to hit him. Even those rebounds because he’s so patient, I think that makes him good. When it goes by, he’s got a really good reaction."
Tuukka Rask on what makes Henrik Lundvist a good goaltender