Boston Bruins: 3 takeaways from blowout win over Rangers
By Sam Minton
The Boston Bruins blew out the New York Rangers, and are now one point behind the Tampa Bay Lightning for 1st place in the Eastern Conference.
The Boston Bruins went into the big apple and absolutely dominated the New York Rangers on Thursday night. They came into Madison Square Garden and showed the Rangers whose boss defeating them 6-1.
Rafters!
Patrice Bergeron is surely headed there. He had another phenomenal night scoring two goals. Bergeron now has 24 goals and is building a case to be a possible MVP.
Got a Tweet supporting Bergeron for MVP. Having his best all around year and his 30’s are off to a great start. He’s shooting more than he did in 20’s. It’s improved. He has an excellent, hard shot. Playing with 1st line linemates helps him/them. Hall of Fame case strengthening. pic.twitter.com/UIbyJbpLeE
— BucciOT.Com (@Buccigross) February 7, 2018
“Bergy’s” first goal was a wrist shot that just got by Henrik Lundqvist as he couldn’t squeeze the pads tight enough. Then in the third period with the Bruins on the penalty kill Brad Marchand caused a turnover and the Bruins had a 2-on-1 opportunity. Marchand fed a beautiful pass to Bergeron and “Bergy” netted the easy goal. With Marchand back, I would expect Bergeron to be scoring a lot more goals.
Tim Schaller: All-hands team
Now the fourth line isn’t known for the most offensively gifted players. They are grinders, but on Thursday
showed off his offensive skills. He blew through the Rangers zone and dangled his way to his 8th goal of the season.
Schaller thinks that this was the best goal of his career.
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"“That’s No. 1, that goes straight to the top,” said Schaller. “I was kind of reading off the D-man. I was probably going to take it wide and I saw him flinch a little bit so I knew I had space to come middle. Luckily, I made a nice play and it went in.”"
“Dobby” dominates
Anton Khudobin only stopped 21 shots, but boy did he come up big. He stopped 10 shots alone in the first period. In the first period he made key saves to keep the game tied and really ensured that the Bruins would be able to win the game. Khudobin improved his record to 11-3-4 and now has a 2.28 goals against average and a .925 save percentage. He has been a solid backup this year and has fallen back comfortably into his role as backup goaltender after Rask’s early-season struggles.
The Bruins are now only one point behind the Tampa Bay Lightning for first place in the Eastern Conference. They have a record of 27-4-4 since Nov. 16th. This team is on fire. All eyes in Boston should be focused on this team.
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The Boston Bruins next matchup is against the lowly Buffalo Sabres on Saturday.