Game Recap: Bruins vs. Rangers 12/16/17

First Period:

Head Coach Bruce Cassidy announced Anders BJork would be a healthy scratch with Spooner taking his spot on the second line. Despite getting the win last night, Rangers Coach Alain Vigneault put Lundqvist back in for his second game in as many nights.

From the drop, the Bruins looked quicker and hungrier than the Rangers, which is to be expected with the Rangers having played last night.

At 15:31 Ryan Spooner buried a loose puck in the crease, but the goal was eventually called back via coaches challenge for being considerably off sides.

Shortly afterwards Rangers forward Pavel Buchnevich is called for a hooking penalty but the Black and Gold are unable to convert. The shots are 5-3 Bruins at this point, but the Bruins have largely controlled the pace of play with great team structure and layers.

With 5 minutes left in the period, Michael Grabner fires a shot high that defies logic and bounces of boards, onto Rask’s back and into the net. Somehow, someway it is 1-0 Rangers.

Other than a David Backes penalty late in the period, not much else of note occurred. On to the middle frame!

Second Period:

Within the first three minutes the Bruins took another “penalty”, called a high stick on David Krejci that was more than a little sold by Brady Skjei. The Rangers scored to make it 2-0 seconds later on a breakaway for J.T. Miller who goes forehand, back hand on Rask. Assists to McDonagh to Skjei.

Near the midpoint of the period, noted Bruins star Jimmy Hayes brother Kevin took a slashing penalty against Charlie McAvoy that broke McAvoy’s stick.

Instead of using the PP to build offensive zone time, the Bruins immediately give up a total breakaway to the Rangers that Rask is somehow able to stop to keep the game within reach.

Approximately 27 more penalties are called on both teams over the next ten minutes or so including a Holding The Stick penalty on David Desharnais around the 15th minute.

The Bruins appear to be sleepwalking through the game by this point but a Chara bomb from the blue line gets masterfully tipped by Danton Heinen in front of the net to cut the lead to 1. Assists to Chara and Krejci.

J.T. Miller takes a interference penalty but the local team isn’t able to score before the buzzer sounds for the second intermission. Shots on goal are tied at 18 apiece and the Bruins will start the third period with 1:29 of power play time left.

Third Period

The period started pretty even for both teams until a sequence that saw a Ranger take out David Pastrnak, which lead to a breakaway for Marchand who had Skjei draped all over him. Marchand lobbied for a penalty shot but was left with just a holding call against the Rangers. Fans threw 3-4 hats on the ice, for some dumb reason. Not to fret though, Marchand got the last laugh as he quickly went on to score on the ensuing power play to tie the game at two apiece.

Both teams tightened up with the puck in the following minutes with not much doing for either team until the Rangers took slashing penalty (Shattenkirk) to put the Bruins on their 7th power play. The Bruins decided to be thoughtful and take a too many men penalty almost immediately however, negating most of their power play. The Rangers failed to get any semblance of pressure on the Bruins and with five minutes left, the teams are still tied up at two each.

Both teams get grade A chances as the clock winds down, but neither scores. Shots 26-34 in Boston’s favor after regulation. Overtime it is!

Overtime

Bruins start with Bergeron. Marchand and Krug who look strong, but the Bruins take their second Too Many Men penalty of the night at arguably the worst possible time. The Rangers score, predictably on the 4 on 3 power play and the Bruins lose. All in all a pretty lackluster game from the Bruins, but one they salvaged a point from. The Garden boos the Black and Gold loudly and for a sustained amount of time following the game.