Recap: Bruins drop a nine-round shootout decision to the Rangers, 2-1

In an up-and-down game against a good Rangers team, the Bruins ultimately came up short in the 9th round of the shootout, losing 2-1.

K’Andre Miller scored the winner for the home team after Jeremy Swayman made a handful of great “stop it or lose the game” saves, but his teammates couldn’t do much on the other end.

Charlie Coyle, who had a strong game all night, got the Bruins on the board off of a rebound five minutes into the game. 1-0 Bruins

That was all the scoring until seven minutes into the third period, when Filip Chytil beat Jeremy Swayman to make it a 1-1 game.

Things got real wild after that, with the Bruins getting hemmed in their own zone, then failing to convert on a power play, then making a huge kill of a late Rangers’ power play...

...and then overtime happened.

Regular season NHL overtimes are generally chaotic by design, and this one was no exception.

Swayman made a huge breakaway save on Artemi Panarin, then Igor Shesterkin got bumped by Craig Smith and threw himself to the ice.

Smith got roughed up by Rangers players afterwards, and it ended with matching minors.

Weirdly enough, the game continued for a bit after the ensuing faceoff, only for Shesterkin to then get taken out by the concussion spotter for the last minute.

He returned for the shootout, where he stopped every Bruin bar Jake DeBrusk and Charlie Coyle.

Miller won it on a great move to give the Rangers a 2-1 win.

Game notes

• If nothing else, that sure was an entertaining game! While it may not have been the most riveting first two periods, that late third and OT/shootout were worth the price of admission.
• The disparity in individual stickhandling/finishing/shootout/whatever-you-want-to-call-it talent was really on display in the shootout. The goals Swayman initially allowed to Mika Zibanejad and Parain were ridiculous moves, and Swayman made three or four other incredible saves to keep his team in it. On the other end, the attempts by the Bruins were feeble, at best, with Shesterkin barely moving. Obviously it’s silly to say “the goals they didn’t score looked bad,” but the Bruins didn’t really look threatening.
• While Swayman ends up with the loss, he certainly can’t be blamed for the defeat. While rebound control remains an issue, he made a number of saves to keep the Bruins in the game, both on the late PP, in OT, and in the shootout.
• The Shesterkin incident was bizarre. It sure looked like he embellished the contact with Smith, given that the contact came from the side but he ended up flat on his back. Still, to let play continue for a bit only to then decide he needs to come out is very strange. I guess there’s no timetable on concussion concerns, but...you’d think it’s something that would have been flagged sooner.
• Overall, it’s hard to be too mad about the defeat — yes, it’s a blown third period lead, but given the quality of competition and who you’re missing, a point is a point. Given how poorly the Bruins played in their last game against playoff-quality competition, this was at least a step forward (glass half full, folks).