BSJ Game Report: Bruins 3, Rangers 2 (OT) - Krejci’s OT winner, penalty kill hand Boston its 6th win in a row

Everything you need to know from the Bruins’ 3-2 overtime win over the Rangers in quickie form, with BSJ insight and analysis:

Box Score

TWO THINGS TO KNOW

B’s open five-game homestand with a concerning lack of urgency (again): After only landing three shots on goal in the first period of Wednesday’s win over the Senators, Boston opened Friday’s matinee against the Rangers with a much better start — landing five shots against Henrik Lundqvist through the first 3:26 of play. 

A great start for Boston against the Blueshirts, but stop me if you’ve heard this before — Boston was plagued by another extended stretch in which the club took its foot off the gas pedal. Sure, Boston tested Lundqvist in the early going, but those chances quickly dried up as the game progressed. 

Trailing, 1-0, entering the first intermission, the Bruins only managed to generate eight SOG against New York through the first 27 minutes of regulation. After Filip Chytil made it a 2-0 game just minutes later, it looked as though another lackluster effort was going to hand Boston its first regulation loss in its own building this season. 

Special-teams play saved the day: Of course, if you’ve been following the 2019-20 Bruins at all this season, you know that



another lackluster stretch and a two-goal deficit ultimately didn’t factor all that much by the end of the night.

After Sean Kuraly made it a 2-1 game with 1:32 left in the middle stanza, Boston secured the equalizer from a familiar face in the third — with David Pastrnak firing home his 24th goal of the year at 4:27 to eventually force overtime. The Czech winger was at it again in the extra frame, setting up David Krejci for the game-winner off of a ridiculous feed — securing Boston’s sixth win in a row by way of a 3-2 final.

The narrative was the same as it’s been all year, in which the Bruins mounted yet another third-period comeback to scoop up two points on the afternoon. But Boston would have been in a hole far too deep to climb out of if it wasn’t for the play of its penalty kill — which went a perfect 6-for-6 on the night. 

The turning point came past the midway mark in the second, with Boston already trialing, 2-0. With Charlie McAvoy in the box after a scrap, both Matt Grzelcyk and Kuraly joined him in the sin bin just 59 seconds apart from a high stick and cross-checking call, respectively. 

Staring at an extended 5-on-3 sequence, Boston’s PK bailed the club out in front of Jaroslav Halak, negating both Grzelcyk and Kuraly’s penalties while holding New York to zero shots on goal during that stretch. Add in another great showing to kill off a double-minor against Par Lindholm late in the third period where Boston’s PK and Halak in net stood as the primary difference makers in what was largely a sluggish game for the B’s on Black Friday. 

FOUR UP

Penalty kill: The Rangers might have opened the scoring just seconds after Kuraly exited the box in the first period, but New York could have put this game away with a two or three-goal cushion if it wasn’t for the efforts of the PK, which finished the game a perfect 6-for-6 on the night. Despite skating with close to 10 minutes of TOI on the power play, the Rangers only landed six shots on goal and just one high-danger scoring chance during that extended look.

David Pastrnak: With Patrice Bergeron still on the shelf and Brad Marchand down the tunnel after getting caught up high in a collision with Jacob Trouba, Pastrnak still managed to keep Boston’s top line rolling — taking a feed from Krejci and snapping it past Lundqvist for his 24th goal in 26 games. He saved his best for last on his set up for Krejci’s game-winner in OT. 

Pastrnak has now tallied at least 12 goals in each of the first two months of the 2019-20 season. Only three other players have accomplished such a feat in the first two months of an NHL season: Mario Lemieux, Wayne Gretzky, and Mike Bossy. 

Jaroslav Halak: Halak bailed out the B’s once again — finishing with 26 saves on the night, including a perfect 6-for-6 showing on saves during the Rangers’ power-play sequences. 

Sean Kuraly: Despite getting whistled for a penalty in the first period, Kuraly rebounded in short order — extending his point streak to three games (one goal, four assists) with his tally in the closing minutes of the second period. A makeshift line of Kuraly, Jake DeBrusk and rookie Jack Studnicka were dynamic together in limited action — with Boston holding a 7-0 edge in shots on goal during that line's 2:34 of 5v5 ice time together.

TWO DOWN

Danton Heinen: The Bruins were sloppy with the puck for most of the afternoon, but it was a turnover by Heinen in the second period that proved costly. While looking to push the puck away from the boards, Heinen flipped a puck into the neutral zone that Artemi Panarin picked off — starting a New York rush that culminated in a tally from Chytil just seconds later. 

Concussion Spotter: After getting caught up high while skating into Trouba in the second period, it took the concussion spotter a full 20+ minutes to take Brad Marchand out of the game — with the winger yanked off the ice just a few minutes into the third period before getting cleared about six minutes later.

Marchand was clearly steamed about it postgame.

"That's embarrassing. They had 20 minutes to sit there and view the tape and call that in ...Guy up there is busy eating pizza and cheeseburgers and can't watch the game. Maybe next time he'll pull his head out of his butt.”

PLAY OF THE GAME: I mean, what else was it going to be? What an absurd play by Pastrnak to set up Krejci for the game winner. 

https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/status/1200518381830647808

PARTING THOUGHT: 

He may have been knocked around by Brendan Smith midway through the second period, but good on McAvoy for dropping the gloves in order to get a spark out of his team after sleepwalking for most of the first 30 minutes of play. 

https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/status/1200497676623724544

LOOKING AHEAD: The Bruins will continue their five-game homestand on Sunday night, as the B’s will host the Montreal Canadiens Sunday night, with puck drop slated for 7 p.m. The slumping Habs will be looking for revenge after getting blown out, 8-1, in their last meeting with Boston back on Tuesday.