Rangers lose to Bruins, 2-1
Artem Anisimov of the Rangers is double teamed by David Krejci and Johnny Boychuk of the Bruins in the first period. (April 1, 2012) Credit: David Pokress
The Bruins were 30-0-0 when leading after two periods; the Rangers were 5-15-1 when trailing after two.
So with Boston leading the Blueshirts by a goal after 40 minutes, the odds were against the Rangers, who needed a point to clinch the Eastern Conference title with three games to play in the regular season.
The score didn't change, and the Rangers' 2-1 loss kept the champagne on ice.
The Penguins (102 points) had opened the door for the Rangers (107) to secure the No. 1 seed, but the Blueshirts couldn't take advantage of the Penguins' 6-4 loss to the Flyers Sunday.
The Rangers' next chance to clinch comes Tuesday night when the Rangers visit the Flyers and the Penguins play in Boston, which clinched the Northeast Division title at 47-28-4 (98 points).
"We all know what's at stake, but we've still got three games left in the season to continue what we want to do here," Brad Richards said.
For the Rangers, the No. 1 spot in the East would mean a first-round battle with the No. 8 seed, which at this point could be Florida (91 points), Washington (88) or Buffalo (86). Or even Ottawa (92), which clinched a postseason berth with a 5-1 victory over the Islanders, leaving just one spot open in the East.
The Rangers (50-22-7), who had won all three previous games against Boston, remained five points behind the franchise record of 112, which was set by the 1994 Stanley Cup champions. With 107, they also stayed tied with Vancouver for the most points in the NHL.
The Rangers did strike first Sunday night. When Zdeno Chara's blast from the point hit Jordan Caron's right ankle and bounced out to the blue line, Marian Gaborik zipped past Chara and beat Tim Thomas for his 40th goal of the season at 4:33 to provide a 1-0 lead. It was his fourth goal in four games against Boston this season. But the Bruins closed ranks and trailed by only one at the end of 20 minutes.
In the second, Dennis Seidenberg's blast from the right point went by a screened Henrik Lundqvist's glove side at the four-minute mark. Chara and Brad Marchand had the assists.
What proved to be the winning goal came on a power play and a miscue. At 11:52, with Michael Del Zotto in the penalty box for interference, Dan Girardi, Brian Boyle and Ryan McDonagh fumbled with the puck behind the net. Tyler Seguin knocked the puck away from Girardi from behind, and Patrice Bergeron got up from his knees and curled it through Lundqvist for a 2-1 lead.
Lundqvist, (38-16-5, 1.91 GAA, .932 save percentage entering the game), had gone 6-2 in eight straight starts and surely wanted that one back.
"With these guys, it's always a bounce here, a bounce there that gets the victory, and unfortunately I was part of it tonight," Girardi said. "[Seguin] just poked it. I'm going to keep making that play, I'm not going to change anything.''
The Rangers, more desperate and physical, almost tied it when Ruslan Fedotenko's wrister hit the crossbar.
With 1:52 left in the third period, Thomas (33 saves) aggressively came out from the crease into the lower left circle and mishandled the puck, but he scrambled back in time to glove Derek Stepan's shot.
Said Girardi, "I thought we did a great job in the third; we outshot them 19-3. It could've gone either way."
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