Rangers erase two goal deficit, score five straight in win over Bruins

AP Photo/Julie Jacobson

The Rangers continued to show that they can erase deficits quickly by falling down 2-0 early to the Bruins. Sloppy play in their own zone led to a pair of bad goals against in the first period. But then they got going, and scored five straight en route to their 5-2 win over the Bruins last night. The Vesey-Stepan-Nash line, along with Brandon Pirri, contributed all of the offense in the comeback.

The Rangers benefited from a shorthanded Bruins team, missing their top three goalies, and forced to play Zane McIntyre. McIntyre didn’t look bad, just the Rangers depth is a lot for any team to deal with. Henrik Lundqvist allowed a bad one, but was solid otherwise in the win.

On to the goals:

Bruins 1, Rangers 0

Nick Holden committed the neutral zone turnover right off the opening draw. He then overcommitted to Brad Marchand, leaving David Pastrnak open down the wing to walk in on the break.

Bruins 2, Rangers 0

A bad goal by Henrik Lundqvist for sure, but the still images here show the breakdowns after the Kevin Klein turnover. Klein, Derek Stepan, and Rick Nash all went to Ryan Spooner, which left Austin Czarnik wide open to walk in. Skeji took a bad approach to blocking the shot, screening Hank in the process. The puck hit off Hank’s shoulder and in. Just a whole lot of bad.

Bruins 2, Rangers 1

Torey Krug committed the pretty bad turnover while down a man, which gave the Rangers possession with the Bruins scrambling. Jimmy Vesey got the puck to Stepan, who got it to Nash, who got two whacks at it before putting it over McIntyre. Krug followed up his turnover by watching the puck and losing his man (Nash) down low.

Rangers 2, Bruins 2

McIntyre wants this one back. Kevin Hayes simply banked it off him. Ryan McDonagh and Jesper Fast combined for the zone entry on this.

Rangers 3, Bruins 2

Another powerplay goal for the Rangers. This is pretty simple, as J.T. Miller made a great pass to get the puck to Brandon Pirri, who had all the time in the world to tee it up.

Rangers 4, Bruins 2

The forecheck by Pirri led to the Boston turnover, right to Miller. Miller got the puck up to Staal in the high slot, who fired it wide. Pirri was parked on the far post for the ricochet right to him.

Rangers 5, Bruins 2

Stepan fought through two Bruins on this rush before getting the puck to Nash. Nash got the puck through to Vesey, who had the easy goal.

Scoring Chances

The scoreboard shows 5-2, but at even strength the Rangers were pretty sloppy. It was special teams that won the game for them, as Boston severely outchanced them throughout at evens. But I’ll take the good special teams play any day.

Scoring Chance Locations

The Rangers didn’t do a good job in limiting the Bruins to the outside. There are a lot of light blue dots in close. Lundqvist, even with the weak goal, came up big often in this game.

The Rangers are certainly an entertaining team to watch this year. They are fast, talented, and know how to puck the puck in the net. They still need help in their own zone, but it appears the current strategy of “score as many goals as we can and let Hank figure out the rest” is working. For now.