The New York Rangers suffered one of the toughest losses of the season against the Boston Bruins at TD Garden on Thursday night in the first game of their second round series, falling 3-2 in overtime after a goal from Brad Marchand with 4:20 left in the extra period.
The Rangers had a 2-1 lead at one point and after a hard fought third period, the two teams battled in overtime with the Bruins outshooting the Rangers 16-5 in the extra session while getting the winner from Marchand. The Bruins scored first to take a 1-0 lead off of a goal from Zdeno Chara before the Rangers tied the game at the end of the third period with a goal from Ryan McDonagh. The scoring stopped in the second, but just 14 seconds into the third period Derek Stepan put the Rangers ahead with a goal, but it was short lived as Torey Krug tied the game soon after before it went to overtime.
The Bruins had a flurry of shots at the end of the game, including one from defenseman Johnny Boycuk, whose shot hit off post as regulation ended. The Bruins outshot 16-5 in overtime and the Rangers couldn't get many scoring chances and eventually Marchand scored for his first of the postseason after leading the team in goals during the year. The next game of the series will be on Sunday and will give the Rangers a chance to try and take one game on the road. After winning in Game 7 the Rangers hoped to carry over that work on the road and while they scored, they didn't generate enough chances at the end or in overtime.
In the previous series the Rangers had issues scoring and were held without a goal in their 1-0 overtime loss in Game 2 to the Capitals and after scoring one goal in the first period of Game 1, the team was held without a goal until Brian Boyle broke the streak in Game 3, which the Rangers won 4-3. New York lost the first two games of the series before getting that victory at MSG and they took Game 4 by the same score to even up the series before dropping Game 5.
Until the Rangers won Game 7 in Washington, neither team won a road game and after going down 3-2 in the series New York bounced back by winning two straight games, including the final 5-0 victory. The Rangers had issues scoring consistently in the series against the Capitals and Derek Brassard ended up leading the team in scoring, goals and assists, recording nine points with two goals and seven assists. Brassard outplayed top scorers Brad Richards and Rick Nash and was the only consistent stream on offense for the Rangers. Alex Ovechkin complained about the calls on penalties after the series and also revealed he played with an injury.