Rangers rally again in 3rd period, edge Bruins 3-2
For the second consecutive game, the New York Rangers erased a 2-1 deficit in the third period and came away with a come-from-behind win. This time, they got goals from Vincent Trocheck and Chris Kreider in the final period to defeat the Boston Bruins 3-2 on Wednesday at Madison Square Garden.
Their latest uplifting victory followed a similar rally for a 4-2 win against the Vegas Golden Knights at MSG on Sunday. The Rangers (26-23-4) are now 3-20-1 when trailing after two periods this season.
“It’s kind of been our identity for a bit,” defenseman Adam Fox said. “We’ve been trying to find that a little more now and we’re fighting for every point. We have the mentality down a goal, down two goals to come back”
The win moved the Rangers within four points of the idle Tampa Bay Lightning, who hold the second wild card in the Eastern Conference. It also drew the Rangers to four points back of the Bruins, with three games in hand, making this an even more crucial victory. New York won the season series against the Bruins 2-1-0, avenging a 6-3 loss at TD Garden on Saturday.
Artemi Panarin also scored for the Rangers and Mika Zibanejad had two assists to give him six points (one goal, five assists) in the past three games.
Igor Shesterkin was rarely tested in this one and finished with 15 saves behind a strong defensive showing by New York.
“We’re getting better and better as the year goes on defensively,” Trocheck said.
David Pastrnak and Elias Lindholm scored for the Bruins (27-23-6), who were on a back to back after shutting out the Minnesota Wild 3-0 on Tuesday. Joonas Korpisalo made 19 saves.
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New York Rangers 3 – Boston Bruins 2
The scoreless first period was tight checking, low event and uneventful. To be honest, it was boring.
There were 10 combined shots on goal, eight by the Rangers. But there were more icings than shots in the opening 20 minutes. And the Bruins didn’t even manage a shot for the first 12:39 of the game.
Matt Rempe led all skaters with three shots on goal in the first period, two on on consecutive jam shots in front which were denied by Korpisalo at 17:55 after Fox sent a shot towards the Bruins net.
The Rangers opened the second period with a good rush chance a minute in, but J.T. Miller tipped Zibanejad’s centering pass wide of the cage. The Bruins responded with consistent zone time at the other end of the ice, but few if any real scoring chances.
Finally, the MSG crowd arose from its slumber when Panarin wired his 23rd goal past Korpisalo on a bang-bang play at 6:07. Miller got in quickly and aggressively on the forecheck leading to a Bruins turnover behind their own goal line. Zibanejad sent a quick pass to Panarin the right circle, and the Rangers star forward wasted no time zipping a one-timer into the net.
The Rangers had multiple opportunities to increase their lead but were unable to. They failed on a pair of power plays at 7:36 and 11:01 and then Rempe had a clean breakaway at 13:30, but Korpisalo stuffed his backhand attempt with a sharp right-pad save.
Then like a bolt of lightning out of nowhere, the Bruins scored twice in 16 seconds to take a 2-1 lead. Pastrnak scored first at 15:03. His initial right-wing shot was blocked by K’Andre Miller, but Pastrnak collected the puck and fired a second shot past Shesterkin, his 28th goal extending his point streak to 12 straight games. Charlie McAvoy picked up an assist on the goal for his 300th point in the NHL.
On the next shift, the Bruins won a puck battle in the offensive zone and Lindholm capitalized when his right-wing shot deflected off Fox and past Shesterkin for his 10th goal at 15:19.
So, the Bruins headed into the second intermission with 10 total shots on goal, but a 2-1 lead.
A roughing penalty by Bruins captain Brad Marchand at 3:25 of the third period was a turning point, though. Despite failing on their third power play of the game, the Rangers did tie the score two seconds after Marchand’s penalty expired. Trocheck tipped in a perfect K’Andre Miller pass for his 16th goal of the season at 5:27.
With the score tied 2-2, Rempe was assessed a holding penalty at 10:02. The Rangers not only killed off the penalty, but they emerged with a 3-2 lead. Kreider scored his third short-handed goal of the season, converting a feed off the rush from Zibanejad at 11:54 to make it 3-2.
It was a terrific finish as Kreider took a pass in his skates at full speed and deftly got the puck to his stick and buried it past Korpisalo, who had been drawn out of the net.
Shesterkin preserved the one-goal lead with a pair of sharp saves late in the period, one on Nikita Zadorov, the other after a crazy bounce off the back boards against Mason Lohrei.
After a day off Thursday, the Rangers play crucial back-to-back games Friday against the Pittsburgh Penguins and Saturday at the Columbus Blue Jackets before arriving at a break in the schedule for the 4 Nations Face-off.
“Every game is incredibly important. We’re in a battle, a playoff hunt right now,” Kreider said. “We want to have a good push going into the break and then pick up where we left off once we come back from the break”
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