First Period:

• Micheal Haley (1) ASST: Brendan Smith (3), Lias Andersson (1)

Second Period:

• Patrice Bergeron (3) ASST: David Pastrnak (8), Brad Marchand (11)
• Brad Marchand (6) ASST: David Pastrnak (9), Brandon Carlo (2)
• Charlie Coyle (1) ASST: Charlie McAvoy (3), Zdeno Chara (1)
• Brad Marchand (7) ASST: Charlie Coyle (3), Jake DeBrusk (3)

Third Period:

• Zdeno Chara (2)
• Pavel Buchnevich (2) ASST: Tony DeAngelo (3), Artemi Panarin (3)
• Patrice Bergeron (4) ASST: Brad Marchand (12)
• PPG – Chris Kreider (2) ASST: Tony DeAngelo (4), Pavel Buchnevich (6)
• Brady Skjei (1) ASST: Artemi Panarin (4), Ryan Strome (5)
• EN – Patrice Bergeron (5) ASST: Brad Marchand (13), David Pastrnak (11)

Henrik Lundqvist spoke after the game on MSG and said:

On the game, “it’s hard to figure out right now, taking big steps last game and first two periods tonight..we need to understand how hard we have to play every night. It’s just not gonna be enough, some it may be confidence but we have to play very simple, very hard, it comes down to battles, that is how you win in this league. I felt like in the second period they did whatever they wanted to do, maybe it wasn’t the entire Boston team, just their top guys and they are on of the best lines in hockey and if you don’t play them very hard and smart they are going to expose you and that is what they did. I felt like we got away from it for two periods and then in the third…I don’t know, they were sitting back a little bit. They are very skilled, their top guys, the other three lines I think we played pretty even with, it’s more the battle level, it has to come up….in front of the net, in the first period we kept them more on the outside and in the second they got to loose pucks and did whatever they wanted to do.”

Could the game be simpler, “yep, I agree because it’s a fast game and we talked about why we had success against Buffalo and it was because we kept it simple and we were winning battles, that was it. When we get away from that we are going to have a tough time winning games.”

On the battle inconsistency, “I don’t know, that is why it’s hard to just point it out. I felt like we didn’t play great but we had a 1-0 lead and we come out in the second….we are not even close where we need to be, not even close.”

On the collision on the Boston goal, “They said our D-man takes him but I still think he has enough time to make a decision to follow through our go around. He takes me out and I don’t think there is a penalty on the play but I’m very surprised they call it a goal. Then I get a penalty on the second play and he says that we are going to take care of you guys, look after you guys, I don’t really know if I buy that. I was surprised they called that a goal but it is what it is.”

On how upset he was, “It was more…we are playing a good team, every goal, especially early in the period. I was surprised they called it a goal but you could feel the first couple of minutes there how we got away from it and I was hoping for a better period, I felt sharp in the first period, in the second it was tough, they were moving pucks side to side and exposed us in the middle but that call set the tone for the period. I’m not going to blame the refs, they have people upstairs looking at it, it is what it is, I was just hoping for another outcome.”

Stats:

Adam Rotter:

• Well this one was just bad all over for the Rangers. Even thought they ended up leading after one, it took them 10 minutes to get a shot on goal and Henrik Lundqvist had to make a bunch of saves to keep the game scoreless and close.
• Then there was the second period where the Rangers were as bad as they’ve been this season defensively. Boston does have one of the best lines in the league but the way they skated and passed the puck around it was like they were in practice. The Rangers lost all structure and got away from everything that was good from the win over Buffalo.
• I’m not sure what the Rangers should do with Kaapo Kakko. He looks like he is carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders and is putting a ton of pressure on himself. It’s hard to break up Artemi Panarin and Pavel Buchnevich as they work well together, but I think we are getting close, if not there, to have Panarin play with Kakko. The way Panarin controls the play with the puck and the way he can find seams to make passes, it may help Kakko get going offensively and hopefully lift his game from there.
• Filip Chytil just played Friday, Saturday and today so it may be a bit much to call him up to practice tomorrow and then play Tuesday, but with three days off between Tuesday’s game against Tampa and Saturday’s game against the Preds, it wouldn’t be a shock if Chytil is called up for Saturday in Nashville.