BOSTON — The Rangers haven’t played many playoff-bound teams in recent games, and facing the Bruins on Saturday afternoon served as a harsh reminder of what it will be like come the postseason.
In their final road game of the regular season, the Rangers lost 3-1 to the Bruins at TD Garden, snapping a four-game winning streak and allowing the Hurricanes to take sole possession of first place in the Metropolitan Division, after they defeated the Devils earlier in the day.
Boston presented a loftier challenge than the Rangers had faced over the previous two and a half weeks. In fact, the Rangers hadn’t played a club that was a lock for the postseason since April 12 against the Hurricanes — and it was apparent.
The Rangers had won seven of their previous 10 games, had cruised to victories in their last four games (including three shutouts in a row) and had taken advantage of some inferior competition. The Bruins and their pesky, suffocating style may have been a bit of a wake-up call, but the Rangers weren’t concerned with their effort.
Trent Frederic celebrates after his third period goal. Getty Images“They’re all games you want to win,” head coach Gerard Gallant said after the loss, which dropped the Rangers to 51-22-6. “I’m really happy with the way our team has played the last five or six games because they were teams that were not going to the playoffs. And they were tough games to get up [for] mentally. I thought our guys did a good job.
“Today, we came in here and we played against a real good hockey team. Overall, I’m not disappointed.”
The Bruins had star winger David Pastrnak, trade-deadline acquisition Hampus Lindholm and goalie Linus Ullmark back from injury-related absences just in time to face the Rangers.
Ullmark finished with 30 saves in his 24th win of the season, but the Swedish netminder gloved down nearly every quality shot the Rangers could muster, including robberies of Mika Zibanejad and Frank Vatrano in the second period.
Pastrnak was also effective in his first game back, with a goal and an assist to help his team further secure their hold on the top wild-card spot in the East, with 101 points. The right winger opened the scoring in the final seconds of the first period to put the Rangers on their heels, and the visitors remained there for the rest of the game.
Patrik Nemeth (12) battles for the puck during the Ranges’ loss to the Bruins. Getty Images“Intensity wise, I thought we had it,” Barclay Goodrow said. “Obviously, they’re preparing for the playoffs just like we are. It was good to play one of those teams and have a close game. We did a lot of good things, some things, obviously, that we could’ve done better. Little mistakes that cost us.”
The Rangers fell into a 2-0 hole barely a minute into the second period after an Adam Fox pass intended for Artemi Panarin was broken up and the Bruins’ Erik Haula sprung Taylor Hall for a breakaway the other way. Hall went glove side on Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin, who is usually borderline impenetrable on breakaways.
The game grew more and more chippy and culminated in a nasty fight later in the second period. After Fox was taken down in the corner by his fellow Long Islander and buddy Charlie McAvoy, Dryden Hunt and Ryan Strome furiously went after the Bruins defenseman.
Zibanejad cut the deficit to one with a power-play goal at 2:58 of the third period on a delayed penalty that would’ve given the Rangers a 5-on-3 advantage. But Bruins winger Trent Frederic netted a dagger at 9:37 of the third.
“I think the game went back and forth, at some points they had us in our zone and for good chunks of it we were controlling the play in their zone,” Goodrow said. “Their goalie made some good saves. But overall, it was a pretty close game. On to the next one.”
The Rangers will take Sunday off, but then will prepare to host another playoff-bound club, the Hurricanes, on Tuesday.
