The Bruins hosted the Rangers tonight at the TD Garden and handed the Blueshirts their 5th straight loss with a 4-0 final score. The B’s completely dominated NY in all statistical categories; which is no surprise considering what NY has gone through in the last 72 hours, but more on that later.
The Bruins had Calder/Vezina favorite Jeremy Swayman in net tonight and he looked sharp as he denied all 15 shots he faced to lock down his 2nd career NHL shutout. I mean his biggest accomplishment tonight was not falling asleep in the opening period. The Erection Line was together and the Krecji line (or as Billy Jaffe called it on the NESN postgame: “2 Motors and The Maestro”) was back in action; I’m thinking Bruce Cassidy fills out the top 6 on his lineup card in pen these days. With Coyle being day to day after a shot block vs. NJ; Kuraly centered DeBrusk and Ritchie while Kuhlman and Frederic rode shotgun with Lazar at the pivot on the 4th line. Reilly was back in for Zboril with Carlo as his D partner.
Bergeron got it going in the 1st when he converted a short pass from Marchand to put the B’s up (for good as it turned out). Marchand was a 1-man cycle and found Bergy in the high slot where he beat Shesterkin over the blocker. Over the blocker will be a theme in this game, that’s called foreshadowing for those of you looking to learn a thing or two. During a late power play, Charlie McAvoy got his 5th of the year when he went where?…. over the blocker with a clapper from the high slot. Pastrnak went behind the net and found Marchand at the RW circle. Marchy took a few strides towards the net and then put the puck on a platter for Chucky. It was a lopsided goal as NY was already on the PK, and then Rooney took a puck to the face and went off under his own power all while Hajek was playing without a stick. So basically a 5 on 2 goal.
Marchy magic and Bergy finish.
Originally tweeted by x – Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) on May 7, 2021.
In the 2nd period, DeBrusk cashed in (yes, that’s how bad this week is going for the Rangers Billy, frigging DeBrusk got a cookie) off a sweet feed from Krecji. Gathering the puck down low in the Bruins zone, Krecji spied DeBrusk high in the neutral and banked a pass off the LW boards that DeBrusk was able to skate into and he went in alone to go backhand/forehand where?…. (all together now) over the blocker to extend the lead. At this point the Rangers were looking for the exits and signaling for the check.
Just to pour a little salt in the wound, Brandon Carlo got his 3rd of the year when he dropped down the RW wall in the opening minutes of the final frame and beat Shesterkin 5-hole. Carlo threw the puck at the net (“a puck with purpose” from Brick) and it banked off Shesterkin’s skate to find the back of the net. Sound the horn, run the clock and let’s stash those 2 points and get out of here without anyone getting hurt.
The Bruins host the Rangers again on Saturday for a 3pm matinee before wrapping up with a game against the Islanders on Monday and traveling to DC for a game with the Caps on Tuesday.
Speaking of the Caps…….
I understand that I’m ostensibly here to talk about the Bruins and NU Women’s hockey (shoutout #HowlinHuskies), but after the last 72 hours in the NHL, please indulge me. While I was up in God’s country minding my own business; the entire NHL “leadership” showed themselves to be actual makeup wearing, rubber-nosed, squirting flowers on their lapels, Ringling Bros. clowns. Whaaaaat a joke. Within weeks of signing new television deals that will bring hockey to the masses and actually grow this amazing game, AND just after adding a shiny new franchise to the fold; the NHL brass Gary Bettman showed his true colors. This thin-skinned motherjumper. Why even have a department of player safety if the league clearly doesn’t give a shit about it’s own players’ safety? We’ve all seen the play by now. Artemi Panarin is lucky that he didn’t sustain a traumatic injury. Tom Wilson should have been suspended, an absolute no brainer that no one (well, maybe Disco but that’s to be expected) would’ve had an issue with. But what does the NHL do? They fine him the “maximum allowed under the CBA” which we all now know is a mere $5.000? GTFOH. $5k may be a lot to you or me, but for Wilson, that’s chump change. His salary for this season per CapFriendly.com is $5,166,666 (holy shit of course his salary ends in 666) so on a 56 game season he pays off that fine in exactly 3:15 of game time. Man, that’s gotta sting. I’m sure he’s learned his lesson Gary, job well done.
The Rangers brass were justifiably pissed and put out what will be known heretofore as THE STATEMENT. I mean, tell us how you really feel. So we have all this ill will going into last night’s game that of course was the back end of a 2 game set between NYR and WAS. The Rangers are without their most talented offensive player and the player who put him out of the lineup was all good as far as the NHL was concerned. The game was “chippy” to say the least and when all the dust was settled and all the PIM’s counted up, Buchnevich gets a 1-game sussie for trying to put his stick through Mantha’s mouth. I mean, the NHL brass Gary Bettman is trolling us now, right? To make matters worse, the NHL brass Gary Bettman doubles down and hands the Rangers a $250K fine for THE STATEMENT. I agree that on it’s own, Buchnevich deserved the one-game vacation, but compared to what Wilson did, he should’ve gotten first star.
So to sum up:
- Panarin is out for the rest of the year due to Wilson’s dirty play
- The Rangers fire their GM and President
- Buchnevich gets suspended for a game
- The Rangers fork over $250,000
- And Tom Wilson made back his fine money by the time he got out of the penalty box
What a league.
The Morning Skate 