Recap: Quick Saves the Day for Rangers in 2–1 Win Over Boston

The Rangers kicked off the new year with an original six match-up on home ice as they hosted the Boston Bruins for their first meeting of the season. No better time to leave the past behind in attempts to finally turn things around. And while it was far from a perfect game, one you could argue wasn’t even a good game from the Rangers to begin with, they managed to weather the storm to pick up a pair of points. They got some serious help from their goaltender and still have lots they need to improve on but getting a win is at least a step in the right direction. Unless of course you consider tanking the right direction.

1st Period: 

A beyond slow start to the game as ten minutes in, the Rangers had one shot on goal. Why did they only have one shot on goal? Well for starters, this team has no defensive zone awareness whatsoever. They’re constantly turning the puck over, overcomplicating simple plays which led to the Bruins maintaining possession in the Rangers end longer than they really needed to. On top of that, you have Adam Fox making an extra move trying to find a perfect play instead of just ripping a shot on net. Alexis Lafrenière had a 2-on-1 with Artemi Panarin and opted to force a pass that got deflected out of play instead of letting a shot go. These are little mistakes that amount to big ones when you’re 3-14 in your last 17 games. 

Right at the midway mark of the period, the Rangers caught a break thanks to a miscommunication by the Bruins’ defenders. The puck was airmailed through the neutral zone which resulted in Boston’s defense pairing colliding into each other while trying to play the puck. Goaltender Jeremy Swayman then decided to play the puck which led to some mayhem as Chris Kreider picked it off and sent the puck towards the net. Reilly Smith picked up the rebound off a shot from Mika Zibanejad but it was Zibanejad who had the last touch as the puck danced around the crease. A much needed goal for 93 as the Rangers made it a 1-0 game.  

Not only was this a long overdue goal for Zibanejad, but he picked up his 700th career point in the process. 

Just three minutes later, Brett Berard found himself on a 2-on-1 with Will Cuylle and did exactly what Alexis Lafrenière should have done on the earlier attempt; He shot the puck. This isn’t the first time Berard led the rush on an odd-man rush with a shoot first mentality and isn’t the first time he was rewarded for it. The shot fired right by Swayman, beating him up high on the glove side to make it a 2-0 game. 

The Rangers nearly made it a 3-0 game as Kreider found Reilly Smith cutting to the net all alone which required a crucial save from Swayman. Jonathan Quick had a few key saves as well to help his team secure a 2-0 lead through the first twenty minutes of their first game of 2025. Shots at the end of the period were 9-7 in Boston’s favor with scoring chances the same count but in New York’s favor. Not a great first half of the period but the Rangers took advantage of their chances when it mattered to set themselves up with a two-goal lead. 

2nd Period:

About two minutes in, the officials blew play dead in the Rangers zone after Vincent Trocheck took a puck to the side of the helmet. Trocheck appeared to be fine, but the officials had him go for an early line change anyway. On the following shift, the Bruins nearly put themselves on the scoreboard as a save from Quick fell behind him and stopped short of fully crossing the line as chaos ensued before the Rangers were able to clear the zone. 

Not long after that, K’Andre Miller took a bad penalty as he sent the puck into the crowd attempting to chip it high off the glass. This gave the Bruins the first power play of the game but that came to an end thirty seconds in as David Pastrnak also took a bad penalty, getting a stick in the face of Ryan Lindgren as he tried to hop around him. With 94 seconds of 4-on-4 play, the Rangers did a good job of controlling play. With a 30 second power play, they wouldn’t have time to do much but a one timer from Artemi Panarin ripped off the crossbar just before the teams returned to even strength. 

Moments later, a flurry of chances from the Bruins resulted in three incredible saves from Jonathan Quick, shutting down a chance from all three members of Boston’s fourth line. 

This should have been a wake up call for the Rangers to help their goaltender out a little more but of course it wasn’t. On the following shift, Pastrnak snuck a wild pass across the crease to find Elias Lindhold who had nothing but net to shoot at. Nothing Quick could do on that one although not sure how that pass managed to get through three Rangers defenders. Nevertheless, 2-1 hockey game. 

After some back and forth involving spurts of offense from both sides, Jonathan Quick continued to stand on his head. As Panarin fumbled the puck in the slot and allowed for the Bruins to take the puck the other way, the veteran netminder came up with another insane save on a redirected puck, robbing Charlie McAvoy of a surefire goal. 

At the end of two, the Rangers still had the lead, although now just a one goal one as the score was 2-1 after forty minutes. Shots on goal were now 21-19 in favor of Boston with the teams tied in scoring chances sixteen apiece and the Rangers with the slight edge in high danger chances 8-6. The Rangers were still passing up chances to shoot the puck and letting their goaltender bail them out but for the most part, were in control with one period to go. 

3rd Period:

The Rangers needed to do a better job helping their goaltender out in the third but didn’t get off to a good start in that regard as Quick continued to be tested by the Bruins offense. It was starting to feel as if it was only a matter of time before the Rangers let this one fall from their grasp. They had the chance for an insurance goal as Trocheck led the rush on another 2-on-1 but was shut down by Swayman on a point blank shot. It continued to feel like the wheels were falling off this thing nearing the midway point as Zibanejad and Lindgren collided at center ice, leaving Lindgren shaken up.

It was a pretty sloppy period from both sides, lots of icings, turnovers and missed opportunities. With six minutes to go, the Rangers gave up another odd-man rush and really struggled to get the puck out of their own end. Practically every time they had the puck on their stick, they were panicking to make a decision. They were completely on their heels, counting on their goaltender to win this game for them. 

With two minutes to go, the Bruins pulled Swayman for the extra attack and quickly got a whistle in the Rangers end of the ice. The panic continued through the final minutes as the Rangers were throwing the puck around, slapping their sticks around just desperate without the urgency for the clock to hit zero. With 48 seconds left, the Bruins called a timeout but the Rangers were able to get the puck out of the zone and hold them off, their first win on home ice in nearly a full calendar month. 

With all said and done, this was a classic New York Rangers hockey game. An imperfect, incomplete 60 minute effort where their goaltender bailed them out, leading them to win the game 2-1. Nothing about this performance was a recipe for success but a win is a win, take the two points and move on. They’re back at it for a back-to-back stretch this weekend as they’ll visit the Washington Capitals Saturday at noon and the Chicago Blackhawks at 3pm on Sunday.