Rangers Beat Bruins 5-2, Ending B's Win Streak
BOSTON - Derek Stepan and Kevin Hayes scored shorthanded goals and Antti Raanta made 35 saves to power the New York Rangers to their fourth straight victory, a 5-2 win that ended the Boston Bruins' three-game win streak Saturday night.
Stepan, who also had two assists, defenseman Matt Holden and rookie Pavel Buchnevich all scored their first goals of the season - Buchnevich the first of his NHL career - and Raanta improved to 3-0 as the Rangers won for the eighth time in 10 games and improved to 9-3-0 on the season.
New York, which beat the Bruins for the second time in 11 nights, scored 21 goals during their four-game streak and Saturday handed Boston goaltender Tuukka Rask his first loss of the season after a 6-0 start.
It was the first time the Rangers, who were backed by a large contingent of their vocal fans, scored two shorthanded goals in a game since March 30, 2014, against the Edmonton Oilers.
Holden scored with the team at even strength to tie the game 1-1 and Buchnevich took a pass from Stepan and scored a power play goal that made it 4-1 with 13:37 left.
Patrice Bergeron, with his first goal in seven games and second of the season, and David Pastrnak scored for the Bruins - Pastrnak scoring on a tip-in with 5:14 remaining. Michael Grabner answered Pastrnak's tally with 3:12 left - his seventh goal of the season. He had nine last season and eight the year before that.
The loss dropped the Bruins to 1-3 at home - after they missed the playoffs for the second straight time last season with a 17-18-6 TD Garden mark.
Rask made only 19 saves and looked shaky on two of the goals.
Referee Dean Morton took a clearing attempt by New York's Kevin Klein to the back of the head with 3:57 left in the second period. He was wobbly as he was helped off the ice and the game continued with one referee for the final 23:57.
The Rangers scored at least five goals in seven of their nine wins and lead the NHL with 50 goals.
The Bruins opened the scoring on a bang-bang play -- Brad Marchand to Bergeron 3:44 into the game. Bergeron was alone cruising down the slot and Marchand hit him from behind the net.
The Rangers then struck twice in less than three minutes.
The first goal looked like a harmless flip shot from the right point by Holden. The puck appeared to tick off the left glove of Boston's David Krejci and got by Rask at 15:09 of the period.
The Rangers were killing a penalty to Mark Staal when Stepan, who assisted on the first goal, broke in two-on-one with Michael Graber. Stepan took a pass from Graber and was stopped, but the puck came right out, glanced off at least one of his skates and beat Rask at 17:59.
Hayes took a pass from J.T. Miller and got a soft one by Rask 2:18 into the second period.
The short-handed goals were the second and third of the season allowed by Boston.
NOTES: Boston RW David Backes returned after missing five games with minor elbow surgery. ... There was a heavy local flavor to the game, with both teams sporting three players from the Boston area on their rosters -- Chris Kreider, Kevin Hayes and Jimmy Vesey of the Rangers and Jimmy Hayes, Tim Schaller and Noel Acciari of the Bruins. Kreider and the Hayes brothers were teammates at Boston College. Jimmy Hayes, who has gone 26 straight games without a point but had a shootout winner Thursday night, was a healthy scratch for Boston. ... The Bruins scored more goals against the Rangers than any other team, even though they have played more games against the Montreal Canadiens. They visit the Canadiens on Tuesday night after a Monday night home game against the Buffalo Sabres. ... New York hosts the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday night. ... The Rangers came in with an NHL-high 45 goals in 11 games, their first 45-goal/11-game start since 1990-91, and they were also leading the league with a plus-20 goal differential.