Rangers Power Past The Bruins, 5-2, At MSG
The win was New York's second in a row at The Garden this week following a 1-1-1 mixed bag of a road trip out to California last week. It also lifted the Rangers into a four-point lead over the Pittsburgh Penguins for second place in the Metropolitan Division.
A potent power play helped key the Rangers victory on Wednesday, as did several timely saves from Henrik Lundqvist, who stopped 39 of 41 shots. Derek Stepan registered a goal and two assists while Mats Zuccarello had a goal and assist and Keith Yandle contributed a pair of gorgeous assists.
The Rangers jumped out to a 2-0 first-period lead by scoring on successive power plays three minutes apart. Zuccarello's 24th goal of the season--seventh on the power play--opened the scoring at 8:37, and Stepan's 17th goal made it 2-0 at 11:39.
Yandle earned the primary assist on both goals. First he skated between the circles before making a quick feed to his right where Zuccarello buried his shot past the sprawling Tuuka Rask. Then he electrified the crowd three minutes later by dancing through three Bruin penalty killers to create a 2 on 0 down low, which finished with Stepan easily converting Yandle's pass into another power play tally.
It was only the fourth time this season that the Rangers had scored a pair of power play goals in the same game. The Blueshirts power play has been effective of late, scoring eight times over the past ten games.
Rask, who was too ill to practice Tuesday, was removed from the game after the first period and replaced in goal by Jonas Gustavsson. Derick Brassard welcomed him to the contest by blasting a slap shot over his glove and top shelf at 5:26 of the second period to make it 3-0 Rangers. Kevin Klein made the head-man pass to send Brassard in over the Bruins blue line, where he finished on the fly for his team-leading 26th goal.
The Bruins did get one back at 9:34 of the second when former Blueshirt Lee Stempniak scored from all alone in front off a Brad Marchand pass after a Ryan McDonagh turnover. Stempniak thought he had scored earlier in the game, as well, but his rebound goal at 10:55 of the first period was nullified by the Rangers successful coach's challenge that Boston was offsides on the play.
Boston gained more momentum with a pair of back-to-back power plays following the Stempniak goal, but an extremely sharp Lundqvist did some of his best work of the night to hold the Bruins at bay; and the Rangers skated into the second intermission holding a 3-1 lead.
Lundqvist started the third period with an incredible diving glove save along the goal line on a Stempniak rebound try, which was upheld by video review at 3:35. Three minutes later J.T. Miller potted his 20th goal of the season to up New York's lead to 4-1.
Wide-open to the left of Gustavsson, Miller buried a slick feed from Stepan and reached the 20-goal plateau for the first time in his NHL career, at the 6:32 mark of the third period.
Boston rookie Frank Vatrano scored at 12:06 to cut New York's lead back down to 4-2; but Rick Nash iced it for the Blueshirts by scoring his 14th goal, into an empty net, with 2:53 remaining in regulation.
The Rangers, who play five of their final eight games of the season on home ice, hit the road to skate against the Canadiens up in Montreal Saturday night before returning to MSG to host the Penguins on Sunday.
BlueshirtsUnited.com
FINAL STATS
NY RANGERS 5 BOSTON BRUINS 2
SOG: NYR 23 BOS 41
Scoring Summary
1st Period
08:37 NYR PPG - Mats Zuccarello (24) Wrist shot - ASST: Keith Yandle (36), Derek Stepan (24) 1 - 0 NYR
11:39 NYR PPG - Derek Stepan (17) Wrist shot - ASST: Keith Yandle (37), Henrik Lundqvist (3) 2 - 0 NYR
2nd Period
05:26 NYR Derick Brassard (26) Slapshot - ASST: Kevin Klein (13), Jesper Fast (16) 3 - 0 NYR
09:34 BOS Lee Stempniak (18) Wrist shot - ASST: Brad Marchand (21), Patrice Bergeron (34) 3 - 1 NYR
3rd Period
06:32 NYR J.T. Miller (20) Wrist shot - ASST: Derek Stepan (25), Mats Zuccarello (32) 4 - 1 NYR
12:06 BOS Frank Vatrano (7) Snap shot - ASST: Loui Eriksson (28), Zdeno Chara (25) 4 - 2 NYR
17:07 NYR EN - Rick Nash (14) Wrist shot - ASST: NONE 5 - 2 NYR
Penalty Summary
1st Period
03:53 BOS Patrice Bergeron Tripping - 2 min against Mats Zuccarello
06:35 NYR Tanner Glass Fighting (maj) - 5 min against Matt Beleskey
06:35 BOS Matt Beleskey Fighting (maj) - 5 min against Tanner Glass
07:00 BOS Jimmy Hayes Slashing - 2 min against Eric Staal
11:23 BOS David Krejci Holding - 2 min against Chris Kreider
2nd Period
02:03 BOS Jimmy Hayes Interference on goalkeeper - 2 min against Henrik Lundqvist
10:01 BOS Zdeno Chara Hi stick - double minor - 4 min against Jesper Fast
12:55 NYR Mats Zuccarello Tripping - 2 min against Adam McQuaid
3rd Period
NONE
FINAL TEAM STATS
Power Plays BOS 0/1 NYR 2/6
Hits BOS 30 NYR 27
Faceoff Wins BOS 42 NYR 25
Giveaways BOS 11 NYR 13
Takeaways BOS 7 NYR 14
Blocked Shots BOS 8 NYR 18
Penalty Minutes BOS 17 NYR 7
FINAL NYR FACEOFF %:
E Staal 23%, Brassard 38%, Stepan 41%, Moore 38%, Miller 50%, Hayes 100%
THREE STARS OF THE GAME
1. DEREK STEPAN
2. HENRIK LUNDQVIST
3. KEITH YANDLE
NYR BROADWAY HAT FOR RANGERS PLAYER OF THE GAME
KEITH YANDLE
NEXT GAME:
The NY Rangers return to action on Saturday March 26 at 7:00 PM in Montreal taking on another Original 6 Rival the Canadiens.
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