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Bruins vs. Rangers Recap: A perfect example of why leaving early is dumb

There's 1:41 left in the game, Bruins are down by two. Seems like a good idea to head out and beat traffic, no?

Maybe this is a good time for a video refresher:


So the Bruins make it 3-2 with 1:31 to go in the game, and suddenly it's interesting. But it's still the Rangers, King Lundqvist and his band of merry shot-blockers. Sure, they'll never tie it up, right?

Brad Marchand begs to differ.

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That's right. Brad Marchand from Patrice Bergeron and Dennis Seidenberg. Don't leave games early.

Pluses from the game:

+ If Rich Peverley's single-handed PK is not a plus, I don't know what is. Raptor Jesus killed off about 1/4 of a Bruins penalty by himself earlier on in the game. Truthfully, he and Chris Kelly had a very decent game - made starkly obvious by just how terrible Chris Bourque played. Bourque had several bad turnovers that left Kelly and Peverley scrambling to make up for Bourque's mistakes. Hopefully the Bourque experiment is almost over.

+ It was really great to see the team not just collapse in on themselves at the end of the game. Although, it's hard to discern why a man advantage works so effectively when it's 6-on-5 rather than 5-on-4...

+ Henrik Lundqvist had some very nice things to say about the Bruins last night:

  • "I'm still disappointed it went to overtime...they're a team that puts a lot of pucks on net, the key I think is to just track pucks in front. It's all about getting to those loose pucks in front, and they were hungry the last couple minutes. They're a good team. They get at the pucks, those were a few tough minutes there."
  • "They're a tough team when they get the lead, they're so good in front of their own net I think, it's hard just to get in there and create big chances."
  • (On when Marchand scored in the shootout): "Well I thought....they just don't want to go away tonight. They keep coming back and having a chance to put the game away."
Minuses:

- The powerplay should just be a permanent fixture in recap "minuses." It's back under 10%. Yes, technically one of the goals came a second after the PP ended, but come on. Four for 43 is pretty unacceptable.

- Tuukka Rask gave up a pair of soft goals that left the Garden agape. After seemingly squaring up to the shot on I believe the Derek Stepan goal, he was still easily beat up high. Not great.
- Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers. A number of times during this game, soft passes lead to breakaways by the Rangers, and twice ended in a goal. Even Zdeno Chara is not exempt from this.

- Not to rag too hard on Dougie Hamilton, but his positioning and decision-making last night looked rough.

- The Bruins put 40 shots on Henrik Lundqvist last night. That he stopped all but three is not only a testament to his ability but also makes a question of the Bruins' shot quality. Firing one in on Lundqvist when he's squared to the shot is going to get you pretty much nowhere.