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Just two weeks ago, this could have been a better game. But then, it wasn’t. Then we thought the Rangers would be a no-contest against the Bruins in the finale. And while the scoreboard was close through two, the Bruins were basically cruising. Then the third period happened and the Rangers shocked us all with the win.

The Bruins controlled the action from start to finish, which wasn’t a surprise. The Rangers more or less were bailed out by Keith Kinkaid until he got hurt. Then the Bruins got a bit lazy on defense, allowing a few cross ice passes for goals. Perhaps the Bruins were just looking ahead, which is fine.

Rangers 1, Bruins 0 – Screen time

They say screen time is bad for your brain. But not here. Tuukka Rask didn’t even react until the puck was behind him. Great screens, and great wrister from K’Andre Miller. Brad Justin Richards gets his first NHL point here.

Bruins 1, Rangers 1 – Live boards

The initial shot was put wide purposefully, which took Keith Kinkaid out of the play, and left the far side open for the put back.

Bruins 2, Rangers 1 – Defensive zone turnover

Defensive zone turnovers kill. That’s all there is. David Pastrnak made Pavel Buchnevich pay.

Rangers 2, Bruins 2 – That was pretty

One last pretty goal to end the season. Three Royal Road passes.

Rangers 3, Bruins 2 – Those hands

Alexis Lafreniere has some silky smooth hands to finish this. It was another great passing play, with one last Royal Road pass from Anthony Bitetto to Laf for the finish.

Rangers 4, Bruins 2 – Kravvy Time

Great job by Zac Jones to jump in off the face off to get the puck deep. Then Ryan Strome did what he’s been doing for two years, getting the puck, reading the play, and finding Vitali Kravtsov in the slot.

Rangers 4, Bruins 3 – Powerplay goal against

Tarmo Reunanen with the giveaway on the PK, then lost his man. Can’t do that to Brad Marchand. To be fair, Marchand did make a great play to knock this out of mid-air. Then again, it was Reunanen-Libor Hajek on the PK. So yea.

Couldn’t find a video of this one.

Rangers 5, Bruins 3 – Icing on the cake

Turnover, Royal Road pass.

Rangers 5, Bruins 4 – Slot deflection

Patrice Bergeron found the hole in the defensive coverage, like he usually does. Then it was just a good pass and a better deflection.

No video on this one either.

Shot Heatmap – Again expected

I don’t know what else anyone could have expected from this game. The Bruins controlled this from start to finish. Yet the Rangers won by taking advantage of some sloppy third period defense by the Bruins.

Skater Results – Bad

Again – expected. What wasn’t expected was the score. I’ll take a pleasant surprise to close out the season.

It’s amazing how things changed over the course of two weeks. There was a possibility these games meant something. Then not only were they meaningless, they were basically no-contests. The Rangers dressed a Wolf Pack roster, but they did find a way to beat the Bruins in the finale. What a weird end to a weird season.

Charts from Natural Stat Trick and Evolving-Hockey.

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