Recap: The First Place New York Rangers
The Rangers returned home to the Garden for part two of their Thanksgiving Weekend back-to-back for their first meeting this season with the Boston Bruins. Heading into this game, the Bruins were in sole possession of first place in the entire league with the Rangers just two points behind them in third place. That meant that a regulation win for the Rangers would put them ahead of Boston for first which only added onto the stakes surrounding this match-up between two Eastern Conference power houses.
1st Period:
Original six matchup, second half of a back-to-back for both teams, New York/Boston rivalry on a holiday weekend, there was nothing but excitement surrounding this game and the pace certainly met that energy. After five minutes of back to back action, the Rangers were gaining the edge in shots but the Bruins still picked up a grade A scoring chance. After a turnover from Erik Gustafsson, the Bruins bounced the puck around the crease requiring a bit of a desperate defensive effort from the Rangers who succeeded in clearing the puck out of traffic.
Shortly after the Bruins big chance there, their defense coughed up the puck in their own end which was picked right up by Nick Bonino. Bonino quickly turned around and let a quick shot go that caught Linus Ullmark off guard to put the Rangers up 1-0
That comes as Bonino’s 159th career goal but his first goal in a New York Rangers uniform. Bonino has been a great veteran addition to the Rangers bottom six and has really stepped up in the absence of Filip Chytil. Not only does he bring experience, he’s been outstanding in getting in front of shots, helping out the defense and even mentoring the rest of the Rangers centers in improving in face-offs.
As play continued, Alexis Lafrenière saw an opportunity as he picked up an abandoned puck after Pavel Zacha tripped himself up at his own blue line. Ullmark made the save but soon after, Matt Grzelcyk got his stick caught up in Mika Zibanejad along the boards. That sent him off for hooking which gave the Rangers their first man advantage of the afternoon. Wasting no time getting the power play going, a shot from Erik Gustafsson at the point sat right at the door step for Chris Kreider to send to the back of the net, extending their lead to 2-0.
Kreider’s 12th of the season comes as his 277th career goal and his 99th on the power play as he continues to cement himself in the Rangers history books and creep up on the all-time great record holders.
Up to this point in the game, the Rangers hadn’t registered a single shot on goal despite the one flurry earlier on in the period. Boston Coach Jim Montgomerary opted to use his team’s timeout after the Kreider goal which proved to be a wise decision. On one of their next zone entries, a James van Riemsdyk pass intended for Charlie Coyle was interrupted by a diving Erik Gustafsson, however van Riemsdyk was still able to get the puck over to Coyle as he fired it past Jonathan Quick to cut the Rangers lead in half, 2-1.
Just 22 seconds after the goal from Coyle, Jakob Lauko fed Morgan Geekie in the slot with a pass from down low. Geekie would let a rocket of a one timer go that would soar past Jonathan Quick to tie the game up at two.
The Rangers then utilized their time out as the Bruins had two goals on six shots since calling their time out just a couple minutes prior. Just as wise a decision as it was for Boston as the pace to this game had very quickly taken a major turn.
With a minute and a half to go in the period, Erik Gustafsson was sent off for hooking Pavel Zacha which gave Boston their first power play of the day. While killing it off, Jacob Trouba made a perfect outlet pass to Chris Kreider which sent him off to the races. Kreider found himself in all alone and let a quick shot go to beat Ullmark and regain the lead, 3-2.
Kreider now had a pair of goals on the day, one on the power play and one on the penalty kill. The Rangers would take a 3-2 lead into the second, out-shooting the Bruins 11-10. Quite the roller coaster of an opening period as the Rangers got off to a dominant start before the momentum quickly shifted to the Bruins with Kreider getting the final say.
2nd Period:
25 seconds into the second period, David Pastrnak snuck a shot through Quick’s five hole just as time was running out on the Bruins power play. Not a great goal for Quick to give up, but hard to complain after how good he’s been through the start of the season.
Trocheck had a great chance to regain the lead on a Braden Schneider rebound but just missed the net. Danton Heinen would end up colliding into Jonathan Quick which earned him a goaltender interference penalty to send the Rangers back to the power play five minutes in. Brad Marchand immediately broke the puck out and took it on a partial breakaway which led to Trocheck tying up Charlie Coyle who was going hard to the net. This canceled out the power play chance and brought teams to close to two minutes of 4-on-4 hockey.
The Bruins would get a proper power play soon after the 4-on-4 as the Rangers were caught with too-many men on the ice. A successful kill for the Rangers who were being outshot significantly through the games middle period.
With about four minutes to go in the second, Ian Mitchell caught Jimmy Vesey up high with the stick. The Rangers pulled Quick for the extra skater which led to the Rangers maintaining great offensive zone pressure. A one timer from Vincent Trocheck was shut down by Ullmark but Jimmy Vesey, who was bleeding from the high sticking penalty, was able to put the rebound home to regain the Rangers lead.
Because Vesey was bleeding, the call on the ice was going to be a four minute, double minor penalty. With Vesey scoring on the delayed penalty call, the Bruins still had to serve the penalty although it would be shortened to two minutes with the Rangers scoring.
The Rangers wouldn’t convert on the power play but in the final minute of action, the top line created one last chance that started with Jacob Trouba who has been playing great as of late. With 23 seconds to go, K’Andre Miller let a one timer go from high in the slot off a pass from Zibanejad that he fired past Ullmark to give them some insurance heading into the final period.
3rd Period:
The Rangers offense continued to push at the start of the third as Ullmark was forced to make a couple of big saves right off the bat. The fourth line has been a low key highlight for this Rangers team as of late and they continued to thrive throughout this afternoon’s outing. Tyler Pitlick in particular had several big chances to pick up his first and finally, he was able to convert from up close in the slot to extend the Rangers lead to 6-3.
The Rangers were riding high after taking total control of this one but again, it was Charlie Coyle briefly taking them back to earth for a second as he was able to pick up his second of the night off a rebound in front of Quick, 6-4
Jimmy Vesey nearly had his second of the night after just missing on a breakaway chance and the Rangers continued to press. Off a nice shift from the Rangers second line who has settled down a bit as of late after the scorching hot start they’ve had to the year, Artemiy Panarin was left all alone at the back door and let a one timer go to make it a 7-4 game. Kreider came so close to the hat trick on another breakaway at the midway mark of the third period but would fall just short. The Rangers never took their foot off the gas and the closer the game got to its end, the Bruins were running out of gas.
The Blueshirts held strong to their 7-4 lead and came out on top with a huge win over the Bruins. The Rangers now find themselves atop the league standings with a record of 15-3-1 with 31 points and a +21 goal differential. You can’t say enough about the incredible start this team has had to the year, especially through this back-to-back stretch where they really gave an all-around team effort to pick up a pair of big wins. After wrapping up a busy holiday week, the Rangers are right back at it for another busy stretch that concludes with a second back-to-back after a two game homestand.
