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The New York Rangers threw everything they could at
Tuukka Rask, including two first-period breakaways, but the reigning Vezina winner stood tall, stopping all 30 shots thrown his way, powering the Black and Gold to their fifth straight win by a 3-0 final at TD Garden.
“[Rask] was really good for us tonight. This team has a lot of speed, the Rangers, and we acknowledged that before the game,” Boston head coach
Claude Julien said after the win. “They certainly displayed it at times and when there was the odd breakdown and they had opportunities to score, Tuukka was up to the task there and made some big saves for us. No doubt, in my mind, he was our best player tonight.”
Rask’s first test came early in the first period, when he made a huge stop on a
Chris Kreider breakaway, and followed that up with more of the same just minutes later, this time against
Lee Stempniak. They were the headline of an otherwise tame first period, with the Bruins holding the speedier Rangers to just seven shots (compared to their 13). But the stops proved pivotal in a period headlined by
Patrice Bergeron’s fourth goal in the last six games, a rebound blast stuffed by
Cam Talbot, good for Bergeron’s 11th of the season, and a 1-0 Boston edge through 20 minutes of play.
“You get a couple tough chances early on and it kind of gets you in the game,” Rask, who improved to 7-0-3 in his last 10, said. “The past few games actually we have been doing a good job of closing in quickly on point shots and not giving those opportunities so that helps me when I see the puck and get those clear looks.”
The Bruins extended their lead to two behind a gorgeous slap-pass from
Torey Krug to
David Krejci and into the cage for Krejci’s sixth goal of the year, and then things got messy.
Extremely messy, at that.
First fourth-line energy forward
Tanner Glass decided to formally welcome
David Pastrnak to the NHL with a pre-whistle slash to the back of the 18-year-old’s legs. The Bruins responded before the whistle, with
Adam McQuaid bearhugging Glass, and then
actually dropping the gloves seconds after the faceoff, engaging with Glass for a five-minute fighting major. Then came a boarding call against
Dennis Seidenberg, who smashed a turning Kreider into the boards for a trip to the bin.
And on the ensuing penalty-kill, B’s agitator
Brad Marchand took New York center
Derick Brassard out with a hit/trip that Brassard simply didn’t care for.
“It’s just like you go to the corner with them and you go shoulder to shoulder, but he brings his leg in the back and I felt like I had a slew foot there,” Brassard said. “I don’t want to find any excuses about it, I don’t want to be crybaby or anything, but it could’ve been dangerous and it could be a game changer. It could’ve been a 5-on-3 and probably could be back in the game, but the referees said it was a clean hit I guess.
“Four [referees], [said it was a] clean hit, shoulder-to-shoulder, the way I fell on the ice I maybe could’ve missed the rest of the season if I hurt my knee there. Like I said, Marchand’s a pretty good player, he’s feisty, competes hard, but those kind of things we don’t want that in our game.”
(Marchand, twice suspended in his NHL career, though clean for three calendar years now, will have a hearing with the Department of Player Safety, per the
Boston Globe's Amalie Benjamin.)
The Rangers had their own run-in with a questionable player early in the third, with Kreider plastering center
Carl Soderberg into the boards from behind, prompting
Chris Kelly to drop the gloves.
“It was a dangerous hit and he just stood up for his teammate and went in there; you’ve seen that as of late on a lot of occasions, same thing with [Tanner] Glass going after [David] Pastrnak and slashing him behind the legs there and [Adam] McQuaid took exception to that,” Julien said of the incident, and Kelly specifically. “That’s what we’re going to do, we’re going to stick up for ourselves and do what needs to be done.”
The Bruins added their third and final goal of the night with
Loui Eriksson, with all the time in the world, freezing Talbot up and potting his 10th goal of the season top shelf.
“It was kind of bouncing a little bit so I had to settle it down a little bit,” Eriksson admitted. “It was nice to get some time at least and it was good to see it go in.”
With the win, and including postseason contests, the Bruins stretched their streak of not losing to the Rangers in regulation to 13 games. Their last regulation loss to NY came all the way on Mar. 4, 2012.
Get your 88 jerseys out: Pastrnak staying with the Bruins
In perhaps the most obvious yes for the Bruins in 2014-15, general manager
Peter Chiarelli has announced that rookie forward
David Pastrnak will remain with the club for the rest of the season, thus kicking year one of his entry-level contract in.
"We’re going to commit to him to play up here. I feel that he’s done very well in his apprenticeship in Providence, which I think has been the most important progressive step in his development," Chiarelli said. "He went down there and he did what we told him to do, which was play without the puck, play heavier, play on the wall, the defensive wall, offensive battles and then he came up here and played in the West coast trip and I think he got his feet wet a little bit, went back down and dominated down there again.
"We really scrutinized his play in Providence and we felt that he was able to play and excel at that level with the proper physicality for him and against the proper physicality. He’s going to be up here and we’re happy to make that decision and we’re going to continue to look at it as a development piece, which means that, as we’ve done before with some of the younger players, it doesn’t mean you’re in the lineup all the time. There may be points in time when his play dips a little bit and we may sit him down for a game or two here or there, but I think the important thing to take away from this is that he’s going to be up with the big team, practice with the team, and hopefully play on a regular basis."
Pastrnak's weight is up to 172 pounds according to Chiarelli, and though he's 'wiry', the Bruins are confident in the Czech winger's smarts to get him around bigger, physical defensemen.
The youngest player in the league, and the 25th overall pick this past June, the 5-foot-10 Pastrnak isn't a player that's sort on motivation.
"Since I’ve been drafted, I try to do the best that I can to show they picked the right player," Pastrnak noted, adding, "Just kind of motivation to show to everybody, even the 2014, [teams and players drafted before him], so it’s kind of motivating to work hard and show the mistake to everybody, just trying to do my best."
The decision was 'unanimous' for Julien and his staff, who noted that Pastrnak has done 'everything the Bruins have asked him to', but added that he'll have to prove himself, too.
Random thoughts and notes
- If there's a player that's not getting talked about enough this year, it's Torey Krug. With two assists on the night, the 5-foot-9 blue-liner extended his point streak to five games (seven assists), and now has eight goals and 23 points in 41 games played. He's moved in the top 25 in scoring by defensemen, and sits just five points away from the top 10.
But Krug has honestly done a solid job of erasing the label that he's a power-play specialist or a liability in his own end, and that's started with a team-wide commitment to a cleaner defensive-zone game.
"We’re getting back to doing the things that make us the Boston Bruins and that’s playing with that edge and making sure that we’re taking away time and space when we have those layers defensively," said Krug. "I think our defensive outings have been a lot better as of late and that’s important for our team."
He's been everything and more for the Bruins' backend this season, and that new contract should be a pretty one.
- You wanna talk about weird? Let's talk about weird. This was the first Rangers-Bruins game at TD Garden without
Henrik Lundqvist in the N.Y. crease since Apr. 8 2006.
Kevin Weekes got the start in that game, while
Jaromir Jagr and
Michael Nylander each had three-point nights for the Blueshirts. Marius Czerkawski even scored a goal for the Black and Gold! Remember him? Yeah, I try not to, either.
-
Zach Kassian was a healthy scratch in the Canucks' 4-0 win over Philadelphia tonight, instantly prompting talk that the hard-hitting winger was on his way out of Vancouver. And, of course, heading up to the Hub to don the Spoked-B. While I think Kassian could be a tremendous fit on the Bruins' bottom six, it doesn't seem like there's a real opening for his game, as
Craig Cunningham is bringing the same energy you'd like, though in a more 'controlled' role.
Up next
The Bruins will put an end to this three-game homestand with a Saturday night visit from the Columbus Blue Jackets. It will be the final meeting between the two this season, with both prior meetings skating in Columbus, with the Bruins winning one via the shootout and the Jackets taking the last one by way of a 6-2 blowout on Dec. 27. It will be the Black and Gold’s final home game before the All Star break.
Ty Anderson has been covering the Boston Bruins for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, is a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com
Boston Bruins Blogger •Bruins Feature Columnist • 
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