Boston Bruins

Bruins Give Away Win To Rangers

Published

2 months ago

February 5, 2025

Boston Hockey Now/Andrew Fantucchio

NEW YORK — The Boston Bruins are in the thick of a heated wildcard race in the Eastern Conference, and so too are the New York Rangers.

Both teams are desperate for points in the standings, but the Rangers were just a little more so on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden, where the Bruins gave away a one-goal lead in the third period and ultimately lost 3-2.

“That’s a frustrating third period when you battle back and get a lead on the road,” interim head coach Joe Sacco said. “It’s frustrating.”

Holding a 2-1 advantage entering the final period, Boston was sent to the penalty kill after Brad Marchand was called for roughing. The Bruins technically killed off the penalty but allowed Vincent Trocheck to tie the score when he deflected in a shot from K’Andre Miller with 14:33 left to play, just as Marchand stepped back onto the ice.

The Bruins had a chance to take back the lead later on after they were given a gift of a power play when Matt Rempe was called for holding on Pavel Zacha.

Instead, the Rangers took it for themselves with a shorthanded goal by Chris Kreider off an odd-man rush.

“Unfortunately, we made some mistakes in the third to kind of throw that one away,” said Marchand.

The Bruins were playing their second game in as many nights, and it was hard to tell if they were tired or just plain sloppy in the first period. Either way, their play in the game’s first 20 minutes was difficult to watch.

A power play opportunity a mere 41 seconds following the opening faceoff went without much notice, as did the next 12 and a half minutes. It wasn’t until there was 7:21 left until the intermission that the Bruins finally landed their first shot on goal. Nevertheless, Boston escaped the first period unscathed, with the score locked at zero.

It wasn’t until 6:07 of the second period that New York drew first blood. Under the pressure of a forechecking J.T. Miller, Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo gave the puck away to Mika Zibanejad, who put it on a tee for Artemi Panarin to clap a shot over the blocker-side shoulder of Joonas Korpisalo.

Korpisalo finished the night with 19 saves on 22 shots, his best of which came when a turnover by the Bruins in the neutral zone left nothing but wide-open ice between him and Rempe.

If it were any of the 19 players wearing blue with the puck on their stick, the Rangers likely would’ve capitalized on the chance. Instead, all Korpisalo had to do to stop the lumbering Rempe was stretch out his right pad.

Even still, the Bruins had yet to generate much on offense. At one point, they had gone without a shot on goal for a stretch of 12 minutes.

But it didn’t take long for that to change, as Boston jumped ahead in with a pair of quick goals.

First, it was David Pastrnak, who flicked a shot past Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin, tying the score with his 28th goal of the season.

That didn’t come as much of a surprise, though, as the goal extended Pastrnak’s current point streak to 15 games. However, what few expected was Elias Lindholm’s 1oth goal of the season 16 seconds later to send the Bruins into the third period with a 2-1 lead.

But, of course, the advantage didn’t last.

“It’s our own doing,” said Pastrnak. “We were undisciplined and got scored against on power play. Those are two things that bite you in this league. We didn’t have our A-game today whatsoever.”

The loss dropped the Bruins’ record to 27-23-6. They have won just two games away from home since Dec. 15.

The Bruins will host the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday afternoon at TD Garden in what will be their final game before the two-week break for the upcoming 4 Nations Tournament.