B’s Beat Lundqvist, Rangers 5-2

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Monday, May 20, 2013

Scott Cordischi, GoLocalWorcester Sports Editor

This series was supposed to be about outstanding goaltending and defense. The problem for the New York Rangers is that it has been about Boston's outstanding goaltending and defense and not their own.
Sunday afternoon at the TD Garden, Tuuka Rask (35 saves on 37 shots) and the Bruins beat Henrik Lundqvist (27 saves on 32 shots) and the NY Rangers 5-2 to take a 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference Semifinal Series.

Boston opened the scoring in the first when rookie defenseman Torey Krug scored his second goal in as many games since being called up from Providence. The undrafted rookie out of Michigan State beat Lundqvist 5-hole to make it 1-0 Boston just 5:28 into the first.

The Rangers would respond quickly off of a sloppy turnover by Brad Marchand at the blue line. Ryan Callahan skated in alone on Rask and beat him on a backhand move to tie the game 1-1 less than 3 minutes later.

Greggory Campbell put the B's up 2-1 early in the second before Rick Nash tied the game up at 2-2 moments later.

But Johnny Boychuck's wrister at 12:08 of the second put Boston up for good 3-2.

26 seconds into the third, Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand teammed up for a Marchand goal to put Boston up 4-2. The play was identical to the 2-on-1 break that gave Boston the overtime win in game 1.

Milan Lucic would finish the scoring off at 12:39 of the third for the convinceing 5-2 win.

 

NOTES:
 

-Following Lucic's third period goal, the Boston crowd got on Rangers' goalie Henrik Lundqvist yelling "Lund-qvist.......Lund-qvist!" Lundqvist has given up 8 goals in the first two games of the series after registering back-to-back shutouts over Washington in games 6 and 7 of their Eastern Conference Quarterfinal round series.

-Much has been made about Boston being riddled with injury on the blue line as Dennis Seidenberg, Wayne Redden and Andrew Ferrence all missed another game for the Bruins. Enter rookie defensemen Torey Krug, Dougie Hamilton and Matt Barkowski all of whom have been very solid in their play. Krug, in particular, has been outstanding with 2 goals and 1 assist. He has also played solid defensively and his speed has been an asset for Boston as well.

-Meanwhile, Rangers standout defenseman Dan Girardi had a unusually miserable game for New York. Girardi registered a +/- of -4 Sunday and was on the ice for all 5 of Boston's goals.

-While the Bruins power play leaves a lot to be desired, the Rangers may be the one team whose power play is worse. New York went 0-5 on the power play Sunday and is now 0-8 on the power play in the series. They have score just twice in 35 power play opportunities this postseason in 9 games. Boston is 1-5 on the power play this series.

-Tyler Seguin's lack of production continues and his ice time continues to decrease accordingly. Of the 18 players who saw ice time for Boston Sunday, only fourth line winger Shawn Thornton saw less time than Seguin (11:10). However, Thornton was at least on the ice for one of Boston's goals and registered a +1 for the game. Seguin had no points Sunday and has managed to pick up just 1 assist in 9 playoff games thus far this postseason.

-Rask (35 saves) was named the game's #1 star and kept his team afloat in the second period with an array of great saves. The Rangers dominated play in the second outshooting Boston 16-9 but were outscored 2-1 by the Bruins.

-Game 3 will be played at Madison Square Garden in New York Tuesday night at 7:30pm. One would expect a much more spirited effort by the Rangers in that game.

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