A little over two weeks ago, the Boston Bruins scored ten goals against the New York Rangers on home ice.
Less than a week later, the Rangers turned in another horrific showing on home ice and it prompted general manager Chris Drury to issue a statement saying the team was going to “retool”.
Two teams who earned the Presidents’ Trophy for the NHL’s most points within the previous three seasons but are heading in starkly different directions get together Monday night when the surging Bruins visit the skidding Rangers.
The teams traded lopsided wins in Boston earlier this season.
The Rangers, who finished with the NHL’s most points in 2023-24, rolled to a 6-2 win on Nov. 28 in the final game of a three-game winning streak. Since then, New York is 8-14-4 in its past 26 games, including a 10-2 loss on Jan. 10.
Boston’s dominant win in the previous meeting is part of its recent turnaround following a six-game skid. After dropping six straight Dec 18-29, the Bruins are on a 10-2-0 run and they kept rolling with a 4-3 home win over the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night.
The Bruins, who had the NHL’s most points in 2022-23, have scored at least four goals in seven of their wins in this surge and rallied in a quick span in the third period to beat Montreal. Fraser Minten scored the tying goal with 6:05 left in regulation and Morgan Geekie scored his second power-play goal of the contest 12 seconds later, marking his third goal in the past three games following a 12-game drought.
Boston has the NHL’s third-best power play at 27.6% (42-for-152) and in the 12-game hot streak, it is 13-for-34 (38.2%), including 8-for-12 in its past five contests.
“We’ve played some good teams over the last little while but we didn’t come out very strong today,” Geekie said. “But to be able to come back in the third and put together a solid performance and at the end of the day get the two points, that’s all that matters.”
The Rangers gave up six straight goals in the previous meeting and have been outscored 45-25 while going 1-7-1 in their past eight since a 5-1 win over the Florida Panthers at the Winter Classic.
New York has dropped four straight home games and is 5-13-4 at home after allowing the first six goals in its 8-4 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Jan. 14. Two days after the team’s 13th loss by at least three goals, Drury announced he would seek to retool the team, which may eventually include trading pending free agent Artemi Panarin.
Following a 10-game point streak, Panarin did not get a point for the second straight game in Friday’s 3-1 loss to the San Jose Sharks, during which the Rangers allowed two power-play goals in the opening 3:08 and trailed by three goals less than eight minutes into the contest.
The Rangers have allowed 51 goals in the first period this season, and Friday’s game was the third time in their current slide they faced a multi-goal deficit through the opening 20 minutes.
“Can’t keep spotting teams two or three goals early in the first period,” New York’s Vincent Trocheck said. “It’s just too hard of a league to come back from that .We’ve beaten ourselves. I don’t have any answers, to be honest with you, on why.”
–Field Level Media
