Bruins vs. Rangers 2/16/20 RECAP: Bruins cruise to 3-1 victory in chippy effort!

First Period:

For as eventful this game was, it really didn’t start all that impressive. It was mostly just an extended series of offensive zone shifts that ended in either Georgiev making a save, or it going the other way for...something. The Rangers really didn’t make that many attempts to challenge Halak this period. But then began everyone’s favorite thing in a Boston Bruins hockey game: “Brad Marchand starts some shit”. Tonight’s contestant: Ryan Lindgren!

Keep this in mind because boy howdy Ryan Lindgren was gotten to.

And then, chaos happened! Right at the end of the period!

Charlie McAvoy took a shot that bounced perfectly off of Jacob Trouba and also maybe Chris Wagner, and ended up following a perfect arc from the player it hit...and went directly in the net past Georgiev. 1-0 Bruins!

Sometimes it’s not the pretty shot, but the shot with purpose. And this is definitely one of those.

And then the horn sounded.

2nd Period:

Ryan Lindgren was once again the center of how this game unfolded as he and Marchand was still a thing that was happening:

The Bruins spent a not-inconsiderable portion of this game on the penalty kill, and a big part of why was a double-minor where David Krejci caught who else, Ryan Lindgren, up on the face, and he was found leaking. Thankfully, New York’s power play was...uh...not great. And on yet another one of the Bruins’ penalty kills, Charlie Coyle ended up tapping the puck away from Jacob Trouba and brought it right to the back of the net. 2-0 B’s!

Coyle signing? Continues to be a great choice by Sweeney.

As with the last period, it happened not too far before the end of the period, and we continue on to the final frame.

3rd Period:

In this period, the Rangers did try and come back, as Mika Zibanejad got the Rangers on the board with a laserlike shot that cut through two players to hit the blocker-side high. 2-1 Rangers.

Not really sure what you do here other than have a predictive algorithm for a brain.

Thankfully, the Bruins held the net, held their composure, and when Georgiev vacated the net for an extra skater, Bergeron got the puck and tossed it in to get #27 of his season. 3-1 B’s!

B’s win! And they’re likely on their way to Edmonton as we speak.

Game Notes:

• Three whole goals from Charlie McAvoy! What a concept! He also led the team on all situations with 24:52.
• Ryan Lindgren and Brad Marchand had a fun night. There was a lot of bad blood. You really figure if somebody was in the Bruins system, even for as long that Lindgren was, would know that Marchand’s game is like that, right?
• Jaroslav Halak had himself a pretty solid game, and definitely stepped up big time as the Rangers finally got their legs under them.
• Charlie Coyle and his line was an absolute gem in this game, and he earned his first star. The third line really has been stringing together some great games!
• The fourth line kinda got filled during the third period as the Rangers surged and their ice time suffered as a result. They really need to figure out a life balance for these guys. Maybe a youth? Who knows.
• Galaxy brain officiating, Inmates running asylum. Etc. Etc. You know the drill.
• Brad Marchand has logged on, baby!

The Bruins take a day or two of travel as well as the holiday, then are back at it in Edmonton on Wednesday to take on the Oilers. That game starts at 8:30pm.

We’ll see you there!