Credit: AP / Elise Amendola

It was a happy birthday for Henrik Lundqvist in Boston on Thursday night, with the Rangers coming out on top 2-1 over the Bruins. Although they were grossly outshot in the first period and struggled to do pretty much anything productive (exit the zone, enter the zone, get shots off, etc), they came back in the second and third, ultimately taking the lead on a great goal by Pavel Buchnevich in the third period.

Lindberg extended that lead with a beauty goal himself, and although Hank gave up a weird one to Brad Marchand his play on the whole was spectacular. Certainly there were some problem areas (the man-advantage was not exactly advantageous, for example) but not a whole lot to complain about from this blogger – it was a choppy, weird game for both teams and the Rangers ultimately came out on top.

RANGERS 1 BRUINS 0

Just phenomenal patience and finish from Pavel Buchnevich. Nash whips a shot that comes around eventually to Holden at the point, who then works it down to Buch at the top of the circle. He waits, fakes, and then blasts it past Rask to put the Rangers on the board.

RANGERS 2 BRUINS 0

This one was super cool as well, coming from a guy who’s been exceptional of late to boot. Puempel hits Lindberg with the pass as he’s entering the zone, and from there it’s all Oscar. He starts by heading towards the top of the right circle, putting a slick move on his defender in the process, and then takes it from his backhand back to his forehand before snapping a quick shot past Tuuka Rask. If Lindberg stays hot as the season winds down and the playoffs get going the Rangers could have some nice secondary scoring on their hands, in addition to pretty much everyone else who can put pucks in the net.

RANGERS 2 BRUINS 1

Not so stellar defending from Staal and Holden helps the Bruins get on the board. David Pastrnak works his way straight down the middle through Holden, and though he can’t get the shot off he taps it over to Brad Marchand past Marc Staal (who looked way out of sorts on the play), who pokes it into the net. This one was weird, and dumb, and robbed Hank of a shutout, so let’s not talk about it.

All in all, while there were definitely areas that could have gone better, the Rangers won on a pair of nice goals and some outstanding goaltending from the birthday boy. Defense looked not so great in the first, but ultimately Brendan Smith’s debut went fine if not spectacularly. Pirri and Lindberg both looked good, demonstrating once again the utility of having four lines that can score – even if one, or two, or all three of your other lines are off (not that they were, just hypothetically) a fourth line with speed and skill can help keep you in the game.

Obviously I’m happy for Buch, who I think really showed AV why he deserves a steady spot in the lineup with his play tonight, although how that ultimately will play out remains to be seen. This game was something of a weird one, and make no mistake Boston is a good team, but if this is what the team looks like on a slightly off night then I’m alright with it. Looking forward to what they can do when everyone’s healthy and the team is firing on all cylinders.

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