On a night when the cheers of applause from their fans reverberated throughout Madison Square Garden for the first time this season, when all the successes were echoed by a round of applause and all the rescues were applauded standing up, the Rangers put on a show worthy of 356 – a day of waiting.
With passionate reactions behind the glass and the traditional “Potvin Sucks!” mockery of Up in the Blue Seats (see what did I do there?), the Bruins received a stern reminder of what the ice team’s advantage is when the Rangers beat them 6-2 on Friday night in front of 1,800 fans.
As the Garden came to life, so did the Rangers.
“It looked like 20,000 [fans], not 2,000, ”said Adam Fox after the victory, which improved Rangers to 7-8-3.
The game broke when Rangers scored three goals in the second period. The season’s highest scoring performance marked Rangers’ first victory over Boston in three attempts this season.
An irrefutable spirit, toughness and tenacity exuded the game of the Rangers. And with all “Let’s Go Rangers!” song that grew, the Blueshirts’ will to win became stronger and stronger. It wasn’t the start of the season that the team and fans wanted or expected, but Rangers welcomed their loyal supporters skating in Boston outside the Garden.
“I’m there during the national anthem, I had some chills and some energy that I haven’t felt for a long time,” said Ryan Strome, whose second goal of the season, at the start of the second period, became a 2-0 game. “It’s been a challenging time for everyone, and I think 2,000 people having a night out and doing a good presentation was a good thing for New York.”
The Bruins remained competitive after the Strome count when their captain, Patrice Bergeron, put them on the scoreboard 2 ¹ / ₂ minutes later. But Brad Marchand of Boston – who had his own warm welcome at the Garden – was called out and Colin Blackwell redirected a Fox point shot in power play to make it 3-1 at 18:52 for the fourth round of the Rangers game with a man lead count.
An unkempt Chris Kreider wrister with less than a minute to the end of the second ended a bow in one of Rangers’ most important spells of the season.
Pavel Buchnevich and Jonny Brodzinski, skating in their second game as a Ranger since his call from the taxi squad on Wednesday, scored a goal each in the third to close the deal.
“[The Bruins] take that [in the second] to do 2-1, I thought they would come, ”said coach David Quinn. “We had some lucky strikes on the penalty spot, we got the huge power play goal and Kreids got it right on the spot. … I really enjoyed our game tonight. “
Julien Gauthier recorded his second goal in the NHL with a strong shot from the left circle to make it 1-0 and light the Rangers’ first goal since March 7, 2020, at 13:03 of the first period.
“You knew there would be fans in the building, but I don’t think any of us expected the impact they would have,” said Quinn. “They were incredibly loud and passionate. You hear the number of people who can be here and think ‘That will be good, but it won’t have that much impact’. They had an impact tonight. … We are certainly looking forward to the day when we can have this place full as it normally is. “
The Rangers seemed to feed on the noise and approval as they increased their physicality in the first 20 minutes, beating the Bruins 17-8.
The fans had missed the action and the Rangers apparently wanted to make up for lost time.