Boston Bruins: 3 Studs Against the Rangers
Needing a victory in the worst way, the Boston Bruins were able to get one Sunday afternoon at Madison Square Garden against the New York Rangers, 4-1. A third consecutive loss on their three-game road trip through New York would have been tough for the ailing Bruins to endure with a two-day break coming.
It was a different-looking Bruins team right from the drop of the puck just past noon then the one that was beaten badly on Friday night, 6-2, by the Rangers. When a team is going through some adversity, they generally look toward some of their veterans to help them turn the tide and that was the case Sunday.
In what could have been a deeper list, here are three studs for the Black and Gold in their third victory this season at MSG in four games against the Blue Shirts.
3. Charlie McAvoy
With so many injuries on the blueline for the Bruins, Boston got another good performance from their 24-year-old defensemen.
The Bruins held a 31-9 edge in shot attempts during Charlie McAvoy's 18:43 of 5v5 ice time.
— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) February 28, 2021
lol
Back paired with Jakub Zboril, McAvoy had a first-period assist on the game’s opening goal by Charlie Coyle and then gave the Bruins the all-important three-goal lead midway through the second period when he one-timed home a slap shot from the point from David Pastrnak for a 3-0 lead.
As usual, McAvoy led the Bruins with time-on-ice at 22:21 and was second of the team with 28 shifts, two behind Connor Clifton. McAvoy, who finished with three shots on the net, keeps proving his value to the blue line and is making a case to have his name in the mix for the Norris Trophy at the end of the season.
2. Tuukka Rask
After giving up six goals Friday night, you knew that the Bruins No. 1 netminder would have a bounce-back day.
Rask stopped 20 of the 21 shots the Rangers had. His hardest working period was the first when he stopped all nine shots, but he needed to just make six second-period saves and five in the third. Rask also played a key part in the Bruins going a perfect 3-for-3 on the penalty kill against the Rangers. It was the first time in five games that the Blue Shirts failed to register a power play goal.
In 12 games this season, Rask is 8-3-1 with a 2.71 goals-against average (GAA) and he has a .896 save percentage (SV%).
1. Charlie Coyle
Early in the season, Coyle was nonexistent in Bruins games, but Sunday, filling in on the second-line for the injured David Krejci, Coyle had his best game of the season.
Coyle opened the scoring with a nice individual effort in the first period when he made a nice move around Rangers’ defensemen to roof his shot under the crossbar for a 1-0 lead. Coyle then sealed the game with a shorthanded goal from just inside the Bruins blue line into an open with the Black and Gold shorthanded with just over a minute left in the game.
Coyle was active right from the get-go. He led the Bruins with five shots on the net and was one of six Bruins who collected three hits. He also went 6-for-9 on faceoffs.
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It was a victory that the Bruins needed and they got several good individual efforts to help them end a two-game losing streak before heading home to host Zdeno Chara and the Washington Capitals for two games beginning Wednesday night.