BSJ Game Report: Bruins 5, Rangers 2 - Supporting cast stars as B’s best Rangers, win 7th straight

NEW YORK — Everything you need to know from the Bruins’ 5-2 win over the Rangers, with BSJ insight and analysis:

BOX SCORE

HEADLINES

Bruins extend win streak to seven games: The Bruins’ season-opening warpath doesn’t seem like it’s slowing down any time soon. 

In arguably their most daunting matchup of the early season, the Bruins traded chances against Igor Shesterkin and the Rangers for most of Thursday night before eventually pulling away in the third — with goals from Trent Frederic, Jake DeBrusk and Hampus Lindholm giving Boston the lead for good en route to a 5-2 win at Madison Square Garden. 

With the win, the Bruins have won seven straight games and improved to 10-1-0 this season — becoming the second team in the NHL to reach double-digits in victories. (Bruce Cassidy’s Golden Knights won their 10th just about 20 minutes before Boston.)

Once again shorthanded following the losses of Jeremy Swayman and Derek Forbort, the B’s once again put together a complete team performance, with Boston still burying four goals past Shesterkin on a night where both Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron were held off the scoresheet. 

Despite a second-period surge in which the Rangers landed 11 shots on goal against Linus Ullmark (18 saves), New York failed to muster much of anything in the final 20 minutes of action — with the B’s out-shooting them 17-4 and lighting the lamp four times.

In total, the Bruins have now scored five or more goals in seven of their 11 contests so far this season.

And with Forbort/Swayman added to an injured list that already includes Charlie McAvoy, Craig Smith and David Krejci — a win in enemy territory against a very good Rangers team stands as the latest test that this roster has passed with flying colors.

Nick Foligno leads the way on a strong night from Boston’s bottom-six: Well, I think it’s about that time we all eat some crow. Because so far, Nick Foligno looks like a completely different player from what we saw last season.

You could make the case that — from puck drop to the final seconds of the third — Foligno was Boston’s best overall forward, with the veteran routinely extending O-zone possessions and using his speed (seriously, he’s put on the afterburners so far in 2022) to push the puck into Grade-A ice. 

Along with Foligno’s two-assist performance, both Charlie Coyle and Frederic also lit the lamp, with Frederic’s second goal of the season giving Boston the lead for good at 6:04. 

Add in Jake DeBrusk burying a puck in transition with Pavel Zacha and Taylor Hall — along with a multi-point night from Hampus Lindholm — and just about everyone is chipping in for Boston on the scoresheet these days. 

Forbort to miss 4-6 weeks, Swayman out weeks: The Bruins did not get good news on the injury front on Thursday, starting with Montgomery’s ominous declaration shortly after morning skate wrapped at MSG. 

“Jeremy and Forbs are both back in Boston. We’ll have a team, official update later," he noted. "They’re getting evaluated there today.”

Sure enough, the Bruins announced during Thursday’s game that Forbort is expected to be on the shelf for four to six weeks after undergoing a successful open reduction and internal fixation surgery on his right middle finger at MGB. 

Forbort exited Tuesday’s eventual OT win over the Penguins in the closing minutes of the first period after taking a puck off of his hand, with Boston now without arguably its most consistent D-zone stalwart and PK ace for at least a month.

It’s a tough hit for a B’s D corps that was due to be bolstered within the next few weeks with the return of Charlie McAvoy to the lineup. The one potential silver lining is that placing Forbort on IR likely means that the Bruins don’t have to do any major cap reshuffling once McAvoy is set to return — beyond something like moving Mike Reilly or Jakub Lauko back down to Providence.

Meanwhile, the Bruins did not have an official update on Swayman’s status, although Montgomery did acknowledge that Swayman’s recovery timeline was on a “week-to-week” basis. Fair to say, even if Boston wants to ride Ullmark for most of the next few weeks, it does look like Keith Kinkaid is going to get a couple of looks between the pipes. Postgame, Montgomery did say that he expects Ullmark to start again on Saturday in Toronto. 

FIVE UP

Bottom-six unit: Whether it be Coyle burying a goal for the fourth-straight game, Frederic and A.J. Greer both dropping the gloves with Barclay Goodrow and Braden Schneider after the latter leveled Frederic with a crushing hit or Foligno’s fantastic O-zone play, Boston’s supporting cast starred in this win. 

Nick Foligno: Honestly, Foligno was so good in this game that he warrants some extra praise beyond the rest of the third and fourth lines. With the winger winning puck battles and routinely slipping past Rangers skaters with some toe drags, Foligno even earned a look on Boston’s top line with Bergeron and Marchand in the third. It was well-deserved.

David Pastrnak: That looming payday continues to look better and better for Pastrnak — who has now lit the lamp five times in the past six games. Granted, that retaliation penalty against Ryan Lindgren was ill-advised … but it’s also good to see Pastrnak stand up for himself there against a pretty imposing blueliner. 

Jake DeBrusk: After a very sluggish effort against Pittsburgh on Tuesday, DeBrusk bounced back in a major way on Thursday against the Bruins. That one-timer in transition was impressive, but DeBrusk’s most impressive play might have been this sequence where he managed to get a shot on goal despite losing his stick and getting tripped up. 

Hampus Lindholm: Ho hum, another dominant showing from Boston’s top blueliner (for now, at least). Along with logging 23:00 of ice time, Lindholm had a gorgeous set-up on Coyle’s goal while also icing the game with a 200-foot, empty-net tally.

ONE DOWN

Reilly-Stralman pairing: If there was one weak link on the team, it was probably Boston’s third D pairing, especially in the second period. Be it Reilly almost getting a delay-of-game penalty or Stralman failing to account for Jimmy Vesey on New York’s first tally, this pairing had some rough lapses in the D-zone. 

PLAY OF THE GAME

I mean, just an absurd angle here from Pastrnak.

LOOKING AHEAD

The Bruins will close out their four-game road trip on Saturday with a matchup against the Maple Leafs up at Scotiabank Arena. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m.