The Rangers’ self-praise is starting to sound empty.
The Rangers came out on the wrong side of a black-and-blue clash with Bruins, who extended their streak of points to 10 games with a 1-0 win at the Garden on Friday night – just two days after Boston had sent the Blueshirts for a loss of overtime.
Without the dexterity of their biggest producer, Artemi Panarin, who was ruled out due to an injury to his lower body suffered on Wednesday, Rangers lost a third consecutive game and fell further in the Eastern classification.
It was the third time that Rangers were eliminated this season, and the second time in the last three games.
Rangers continued to highlight how difficult the games have been, how many good points there are to take and that they are only a few steps away from putting the pieces together.
But the fact is this: the shortened 2020-21 season is almost a quarter of the end.
Bruins’ netminder, Tuukka Rask, gave the Blueshirts on Wednesday night, and former Islander Jaroslav Halak did the same on Friday. Boston lost in regulation only once this season, on January 18, against the Islanders, and is arguably one of the most complete teams in the entire league.
The Rangers, however, proved they could skate alongside the Bruins’ physical team when they forced overtime in Wednesday’s game. Offensive courage, smart decisions and balanced play were simply not there this time.
Jacob Trouba suffered a penalty of carelessly holding less than two minutes for the third. A two-on-one race with Kaapo Kakko and Alexis Lafreniere was easily interrupted before anyone could fire. And when the Rangers had a powerful game in the final minute of the game to a six-to-four advantage, they lost the head-to-head and failed to land a single shot on the net.
After a first goalless period, hockey from the old days reached 2021. Both teams combined 13 penalties in the middle interval, with a total of 36 minutes served by fight or violence.
The Rangers may have landed their punches, but they allowed the Bruins to take jabs where they mattered: on the scoresheet. Nick Ritchie broke the scoring drought at 9:13 after sticking the record against Shesterkin, while Boston overcame the Rangers 13-10 in the second.
In the first 20 minutes, the Rangers limited the Bruins to all areas of the ice, while the new second-line line from Lafreniere, Kakko and Ryan Strome not only increased pressure in the offensive zone, but dismantled Boston on the other end of the ice.