BSJ Game Report: Rangers 3, Bruins 2 (OT) -- Self-inflicted loss

Everything you need to know from the Bruins' loss to the New York Rangers at TD Garden in quickie form, with BSJ insight and analysis.

HEADLINES

If you can’t win fair, cheat: Before the Bruins were called for a too-many-men penalty at 1:05 of overtime, they attempted an early change in order to get numbers back defensively because the Rangers were in transition and Boston had two players caught deep. The penalty proved crucial because the Rangers’ Mats Zuccarello scored the game-winner on the power play.

“All three were scrambling to get on the ice,” admitted Bruce Cassidy. “I can’t complain. We’re trying to gain an advantage there and sometimes you get away with it, and sometimes you don’t. We didn’t.”

As Cassidy said, it was a lousy way to lose, especially after the Bruins erased a two-goal deficit to force overtime.



You take it: On paper, the Bruins had 22 turnovers but there were more than that. It’s not only the number of giveaways it’s the timing of them that hurt Boston. The Rangers are too good of a team to make those types of mistakes against.

Stop, thief: For the second game in a row, the Bruins faced an elite goaltender and the Rangers’ Henrik Lundqvist, playing his second game in as many days, finished with 33 saves en route to victory. He continues to have outstanding success against the Bruins in his career. With the win, 27-12-2 in 41 games against Boston.

TURNING POINT

Power-less: The Bruins entered the game, scoring a power-play goal in four of the previous five games. However, Boston struggled big time on the man-advantage against the Rangers, going 1-for-7, which proved crucial. The Rangers, knowing the Bruins have had success on the PP, were overly aggressive on the penalty kill and it worked. Boston didn’t handle that pressure and couldn’t sustain zone time. There’s been a trend league-wide the last few seasons to run a delayed entry on the power play and it hardly ever works. Players are stationary and a team wastes crucial seconds regrouping back in the defensive end. Boston was out of sync in this department against the Rangers.

“There were problems getting into the zone, and problems in the zone,” Cassidy said. “There were problems. We struggled on the power play and we’re not going to hide from that.”

The power play wasn’t a complete waste because Brad Marchand scored on the man-advantage to tie the game at 2-2 at 5:38 of the third period. It was a sick pass from David Pastrnak and Marchand beat Lundqvist to the short side on the back door.

THREE UP

Danton Heinen: A high-level NHL executive raved about Heinen’s development into one of the team’s most consistent players this season. He scored against the Rangers and now has three goals and three assists for six points in his last six games. Overall, he has 18 points in 26 games this season.

Marchand: With his power-play goal, the veteran forward extended his point streak to a career-best eight games with five goals and seven assists for 12 points in that span. Overall, he has 13 goals and 14 assists for 27 points in 22 games this season.

Pastrnak: He extended his point streak to 11 games with an assist on Marchand’s goal. Pastrnak has five goals and eight assists for 13 points during this stretch. Even though he’s been playing with Marchand and Patrice Bergeron for the majority of the season, don’t be surprised if Cassidy reunites Pastrnak with David Krejci very soon.

TWO DOWN

Brandon Carlo: Officially, he was given only one turnover for the game, but there were more and those turned into quality scoring chances for the Rangers. No doubt he has the ability to become a solid top-4 defender in this league, but he’s been struggling of late on the second pair with Torey Krug. It may bee a good idea to have him watch from press level as a healthy scratch once Adam McQuaid is cleared for game action.

Jake DeBrusk: He hasn’t regained his touch in the last five games since missing three due to injury. He logged only 7:43 of ice time against the Rangers, but a lot of that had to do with special teams. He needs to score of those greasy type goals to get him going again.

NOT ON THE SCORE SHEET

Getting somewhat dirty: Ryan Spooner has been criticized plenty of times in the past for not going to the dirty areas. Even though his goal at 4:29 of the first period was overturned because DeBrusk was offside, Spooner created speed through the neutral zone, made a pass and then went directly to the front of the net was he redirected the puck past Lundqvist. After review, the goal was disallowed, but more importantly, Spooner went to the area he needs to in order to be successful when he’s playing on a line with Krejci.

UP NEXT

The Bruins will host the Columbus Blue Jackets at 7 p.m. on Monday at TD Garden. Boston will then travel to Buffalo to face the Sabres on Tuesday. Cassidy said he will split the goaltending duties, but the coach hasn’t decided which games Tuukka Rask and Anton Khudobin will play.