The Blueshirts were nearing the end of regulation time, down 1-0 to a Boston team against which they could not break out offensively. If not for Henrik Lunqvist’s continually excellent goaltending, the Rangers might not have even been in the contest. But Lundqvist was fantastic, and the Rangers were in it, down by only a goal because the King again stood on his head.
Lundqvist kept the score close and set the stage for Thomas Pock’s game-tying goal. Like Petr Prucha’s goal against the Flyers, that Pock mishandled the puck at first might have helped his chances. Boston’s Joey MacDonald had already committed to the shot he’d expected, and was just enough out of position for the puck to squeak by and into the net. The Bruins made a last dash at winning the game, but the Rangers had as good an opportunity to take the contest in regulation with two good chances after the 19:30 mark. Despite the chances, it went to overtime. The Rangers played conservatively, rather than overextending themselves and thus blowing the chance for a shootout with a costly mistake in the extra frame.
Prucha, though, made a mistake by taking a penalty with 1:30 to go in overtime. But the Ranger penalty-killers and Lundqvist came up big and forced the shootout.
The game could easily have ended after three periods with a Ranger loss, costing them ground in the playoff race … but this team has been pulling out clutch plays, and they earned the end result of today’s contest. Michael Nylander buried the opening shootout chance with a crisp backhand, but Patrice Bergeron evened it up by beating Lundvist on Boston’s first chance.
Both Matt Cullen and Marco Sturm missed their respective team’s second chances and then Jaromir Jagr, finally participating in shootouts on a regular basis, found space enough to send the biscuit through MacDonald’s legs. Bruins rookie Phil Kessel had a shot to send it to the sudden-death round, but Lundvist forced him wide, and though Kessel caught iron, it was the outside of the post. Lundqvist looked behind himself to be sure, and it was true: the Rangers had won again.
