Henrik Lundqvist was brilliant on his 35th birthday stopping 32 shots to give New York a 2-1 win Thursday against Boston. The Bruins dominated action but Lundqvist was up to the task over and over again. He was the main - and possibly - sole reason New York won. Two goals in the third, where New York now has a league leading 86 goals on the season, was just enough for the Rangers to break a two-game losing streak. Montreal comes to New York on Saturday.
New York started the game without Michael Grabner, who missed the game with his hip injury suffered in practice Wednesday. Pavel Buchnevich, who has been a healthy scratch and tallied twice for Hartford on Wednesday, dressed in his place, skating on the top line with Rick Nash and Mike Zibanejad. The other three lines were Kreider-Stepan-Zuccarello; Vesey-Hayes-Miller and Pirri-Lindberg-Puempel.
One the blue line, newly acquired Brendan Smith skated alongside his former Wisconsin Badger, Ryan McDonagh. Marc Staal and Nick Holden were together again as were Brady Skjei and Adam Clendening. Dan Girardi (ankle) and Kevin Klein (back) remain out, though Klein likely should be back before G.
Lundqvist and Tuukka Rask were each strong the first two periods, with Hank making several spectacular plays as the Bruins controlled action. Buchnevich got New York on the board, beating Tuukka Rask with a 35-foot slap shot at 5:10 of the frame. Buch, who likely told AV, see what happens when I am not on the fourth line and I play with offensive talent, hesitated and then cranked one top shelf for the tally.
Buchnevich can you not? pic.twitter.com/TSekmcaNkT
— Marina Molnar (@mkmolnar) March 3, 2017
Oscar Lindberg, who lately has looked like the early 2015-16 Lindberg, scored his third goal in six games at 9:35. He made a beautiful inside-out move around Brandon Carlo and chipped the puck over Rask for the tally. Lindberg will likely see a host of linemates while Jesper Fast is sidelined with his separated shoulder and was strong again Thursday.
Holy hands https://t.co/Dz1Lt1DdWS
— Jan Levine (@airjan23) March 3, 2017
Boston cut it to 2-1 on a goal by Brad Marchand, aka the Rat. The tally came after a great pass by David Pastnak, but on the play, there was no reason for Staal to go down or leave Marchand, which created the play. After the goal, Lundqvist was able to stone Boston the rest of the way for the win.
MARCH MADNESS! pic.twitter.com/r5e9MdwvZE
— Marina Molnar (@mkmolnar) March 3, 2017
Some thoughts:
- The PP was a tire fire again. It went 0-for-3 and basically has become more of a hinderance than a help. Overall, the powerless power play is 0-for-18 over the last seven games, 1-for-32 over the last 11 and 3-for-51 over the last 19 matches, Holy ugliness Batman.
- The offense as a whole has stagnated. Just 21 shots Thursday and 17 goals the past eight games. They missed Grabner's speed against Boston but what we see is what they have. I expect some mixing and matching to find better or right combinations, since what has existed lately isn't working. Injuries haven't helped, so maybe setting regular groupings once Grabner comes back will help the chemistry and the production.
- I thought Smith acquitted himself nicely. Holden and Staal were a tire fire again while Skjei and Clendening weren't bad. When Klein and G return, two defensemen have to sit. Holden likely could use a few games off to reset and regroup. The same can be said for Staal. Maybe AV sits both when Klein and G return.
That would three righty and three lefty defensemen. Pairings then becoming challenging. AV could go McD-G, Skjei-Clendening and Smith-Klein, but that seems less than optimal. Moving Smith up to play with McD makes the most sense for that duo, but then you have three righties left amongst the four d-men, which makes the combinations harder.