Rask steals one at The Garden

“Save by Rask” heard way too much (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Tuukka Rask showed why he earned his massive contract this summer, completely baffling the Rangers and carrying Boston to a 2-1 win at MSG. The Rangers didn’t have much traffic in front, making Rask’s job a little easier, but that doesn’t take away from the incredible performance the young netminder turned in last night. Rask’s 43 saves, including two on Chris Kreider breakaways, are the only reason why the Bruins won this game, as New York dominated from start to finish.

There is nothing more frustrating than a goalie stealing one for the opposition. Perhaps it is even more frustrating when you’ve had the gift of The King in net for the past nine seasons. These games happen though.

On to the goals:

Bruins 1, Rangers 0

Marchand covered, challenge shot.

This goal started with a bad pass by Mats Zuccarello, as he tried to force it through a few Bruins to Chris Kreider. The puck was deflected away between Ryan McDonagh Justin Falk, Brad Marchand, and Shawn Thornton. McDonagh Falk hesitated, and didn’t commit to pinching to keep the zone or skating back on defense. Due to the indecision, Thornton was able to chip the puck past McDonagh Falk and start a 2-on-1 with Marchand. Zuccarello caught up to Marchand (without the puck), but John Moore didn’t move over fast enough to Thornton to challenge the shot. Thornton simply ripped it over Hank from the hash marks.

Bruins 2, Rangers 0

You can see where this is going.

After a bad powerplay zone entry from McDonagh, where he was challenged by Gregory Campbell and Zdeno Chara, his back pass to Ryan Callahan simply couldn’t be handled. Danny Paille was able to chip the loose puck past Cally for the breakaway, where he slipped it past Hank for the shorthanded goal.

Rangers 1, Bruins 2

1-3-1 at work.

Right after Paille’s shorty, Derick Brassard answered right back on the same powerplay. John Moore made a series of good keeps at the blue line, and eventually wound up with the puck at the point after some chances. He hit Brassard on the far wing with a lot of room to maneuver. Kreider cut to the net, drawing some defensive attention, but Brassard’s shot barely slipped through Johnny Boychuk’s legs and through a screened Rask.

Fenwick Chart:

Courtesy of ExtraSkater

Pure domination. Stupid Tuukka Rask.

Well, the Rangers came out 1-2 against the three playoff teams faced during this run, with their one win coming against Montreal in Montreal. But the team was dominant against Boston as well, if there’s any silver lining, that’s it. This is a team that simply cannot buy a goal right now. They are in the bottom-three in PDO (puck luck, SH% + SV%, average is 100%, Rangers at 96.3%). That will eventually correct itself over an 82 game season. Hopefully it corrects itself soon, since the Rangers are now headed on a five game road trip. These games happen, and for the Rangers, it happened twice in a row.