The easy narrative heading into last night’s game against the Boston Bruins was that the New York Rangers are too small to play against them. The proper narrative is that when the Rangers execute properly and use their speed on the forecheck, they can make some of the best teams look sluggish, as they did with the Bruins last night. The Rangers dominated the possession and scoring chance game, and you saw it on the ice.
How you saw it: The Rangers forced turnovers, closed gaps fast, forced sloppy passing, and disrupted the Bruins breakout. While I did not track this, it appeared that the Rangers also stepped up on the blue line and didn’t allow Boston that many controlled zone entries either. The Rangers had a pair of defensive gaffes, but no team plays a perfect game. They overcame the gaffes, and turned their domination into a win.
On to the goals:
Rangers 1, Bruins 0
Kevin Klein stepped up to Brad Marchard at the Rangers blue line to force the turnover. Martin St. Louis collected the puck, got it to Rick Nash behind the defense, and Nash did Nash things. No picture on this one, sorry folks.
Bruins 1, Rangers 1
McD turnover, all Rangers expected him to keep it.
This was a bad matchup, as it was the top line for the Bruins against the fourth line for the Rangers. After a board battle, Ryan McDonagh coughed up the puck, and it went right to David Krejci. Tanner Glass went to the puck, leaving Milan Lucic open in the high slot. Krejci chipped the puck to him, and Lucic isn’t missing that.
Bruins 2, Rangers 1
Sigh. Eriksson isn’t scoring from there. Block the passing lane.
MSL with a blind, backhand pass in the offensive zone, so of course it resulted in a turnover. Loui Eriksson came down the far boards, and Dan Girardi snow angeled at the faceoff dot –because Eriksson is such a scoring threat from there– and it allowed Bergeron to split the defense. There was nothing McDonagh could do to cover Bergeron, and Eriksson’s pass flipped over Girardi right to Bergeron’s stick for the deflection past Talbot.
Rangers 2, Bruins 2
Four Bruins low, no one sees Brass cutting to slot.
The Rangers had a controlled zone entry that led to a solid cycle. Mats Zuccarello and Chris Kreider got a little lucky here, as Zucc’s attempt to hold the puck behind the net flipped on him, but it went right to Kreider. Kreider settled the puck and hit Brass cutting to the slot (not in the picture yet) as the Bruins watched the play. Brass put it over Rask.
Rangers 3, Bruins 2
This is what happens when you shoot more often Derek.
Girardi started the play with a homerun pass to Nash at the Bruins’ blue line. Nash chipped the puck to Stepan down the seam. Rask didn’t get all of Stepan’s shot.
Note: The below charts were with 13 minutes remaining in the third. War-on-ice’s NHL feed didn’t update, and I wasn’t waiting around for it.
Fenwick Chart:
This is much more like it.
As mentioned above, the Rangers dominated the possession game. This is where stats and the eye test meet. You saw it on the ice: The Rangers used their speed and executed very nicely, and it shows up here.
Scoring Chances:
Quality too.
This wasn’t even close. Wow.
Individual Corsi:
Good to see some guys on the positive side here.
As with above, it’s always interesting to see who got stuck in their own zone more often than not. Those on the bottom were in their own zone more.
Shot Locations:
Limiting quality attempts, NYR bread and butter.
This is pretty amazing. The Rangers limited the Bruins to just four point blank chances, and a handful of slot chances. Solid game by the Rangers.
Shift Chart:
McDonagh/Girardi got the Bergeron line, and were a bit of a mixed bag. They allowed the pair of goals due to two gaffes, but wound up on the positive side of possession. Kevin Klein and Marc Staal got the Krejci line, and held them off the scoreboard. But that pair was in the negatives for possession. Goes to show you: We remember the goals, but not necessarily the little things.
The Rangers showed up and played extremely well in this game. This was a game they deserved to win, despite the pair of miscues, and they did. It’s these kinds of games they need to have in order to continue to have success.
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