Bruins vs. Rangers 2/10/21 RECAP: B’s depth comes up huge in 3-2 win in overtime!

First Period:

The key point of this game is that it was s l o p p y. Sloppy play, sloppy passing, sloppy decision-making, and early on, the Bruins paid for it big time. The fourth line and the Gryz pairing had a fairly poor effort in front of their net, letting Julien Gauthier just kinda roll down main street to get his first NHL goal. Rangers lead 1-0.

TBH In spite of that, the shooting was fairly even, and the Bruins ended up leaving the period down a goal.

2nd Period:

The Bruins ended up getting the better of the Rangers in a period where the entire SOG column suddenly exploded open. The Bruins kept their heads above water thanks to Finland’s premiere netminder...

But either way, it was still completely clownshoes hockey. Then the Bruins took a penalty, and yet...

The city of Walpole moves on! What a shorthanded bid. 1-1 all.

No further scoring updates, and onto the third period, where surely nothing stupid and goofy would happen.

3rd Period, where stupid and goofy things happened:

Alright, in sequence.

Jake Debrusk got an opportunity to score (one of many he had tonight), but it was unfortunately denied to him:

And then he’d get that point in the form of a primary assist, as he ended up getting a sick pass through to Anders Bjork who got the B’s up 2-1...

And then the Rangers got a tying goal in very tight, which prompted a thorough investigation on whether or not it was in fact a high stick, but it wouldn’t end up being called back. Tie game.

And then Rask later in the period decided to just kinda...leave?

Okay, I guess. B’s didn’t get scored on so no big deal.

Anyway, no goals scored further. On to overtime with both teams tied 2-2!

Overtime:

Don’t let Brad Marchand get open ice.

It won’t go well for you.

Bruins win 3-2 in OT!

Game Notes:

• Your TOI leader was, who else? Charlie McAvoy, who played 24 minutes, and more importantly made a huge stick check to get Brad Marchand going up ice for the win.
• Confusing walk to the bench aside, Rask had a very good night. a .943 SV%, made Mika Zibanejad question reality, and entertained the crowd at home. He was just on fire all night.
• Jake Debrusk clearly woke right up today, as he returned from injury as a force, being one of the leaders in shot attempts. Good to have you back, Jake!
• The B’s should be very lucky they ended up coming back the way they did, the Bruins were playing sloppy hockey, especially in front of their goaltender, and they had a lot of trouble attacking the middle. Of course, the few times they did, they scored. Funny how that goes, right?
• As for the called back goal...whatever, man. We’ve known for awhile that whatever angle they’re seeing up in Toronto that they’re sending to the officials is probably not the right one, and trying to get another one called back was due diligence on Cassidy’s part. It just sucks that DeBrusk couldn’t get that goal on his night back from the IR list.
• The Coyle line yet again had a strong game. Having guys like Coyle on your third line is a luxury you can only dream of, and Craig Smith is just icing on that cake, even if they occasionally take penalties.
• Welcome to yet another game of “if you’re not going to play your young star, call up another one”, where Trent Frederic only played less than 9 minutes. Again, how bad could they be if you’re not going to play him?
• Tuukka Rask rules:

• The next game is going to be so dumb. I can feel it in my bones.

The Bruins get a day off, then show up right back at MSG to face the Rangers again on friday. That game begins at 7pm EST.

We’ll see you there!