Rangers Score Two in the Second to Down Boston

(AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

The big news of the day for the NY Rangers occurred was that star goalie Henrik Lundqvist would sit out versus the Bruins. Lundqvist suffered a neck injury between the Saturday game with the Hurricanes and the Monday game versus the Panthers. Cam Talbot would replace him between the pipes and McKenzie Skapski was recalled from the Hartford Wolf Pack of the AHL.

So far in 24 games for the Wolf Pack, the 20 year old Skapski was 12-7-3 with a GAA of 2.38, A SV% of .914 and 2 SO.

The Rangers scored first, as Rick Nash took a beauty of a pass in stride from Marty St. Louis and bore down on Tukka Rask. Monster Nash went forehand, backhand and beat the Bruin goalie.

The Bruins then scored twice to close out the first. Lucic, who was so sick that he missed the Bruins team flight, but flew into NYC this morning, scored the first for Boston on a blast that beat Talbot cleanly.

Patrice Bergeron than tipped in a beaut of a pass from Loui Eriksson, that just flew over the stick of Dan Girardi and the Bruins were up 2-1.

The Rangers scored twice in the second period: first it was Derick Brassard with a snap shot from the high slot and then it was Derek Stepan who shot one off of Rask and into the net.

The third period was fast and furious, but the Rangers held on for a hard fought 3-2 victory on home ice.

Scoring:

NYR: Rick Nash (32), Assisted by Marty St. Louis & Kevin Klein

BOS: Milan Lucic (11), Assisted by Reilly Smith & David Krejci

BOS: Patrice Bergeron (13), Assisted by Loui Eriksson

NYR: Derick Brassard (13), Assisted by Chris Kreider & Mats Zuccarello

NYR: Derek Stepan (9), Assisted by Rick Nash & Dan Girardi

Team Stats                              BOS                               NYR

Shots on Goal                         20                                  25

Power Play                              0 for 2                           0 for 2

Hits                                         26                                  34

Face Off Wins                        30                                  15

Giveaways                              5                                    14

Takeaways                             5                                    7

Blocked Shots                         20                                  18

Goalie Stats:

Tukka Rask: 22 Saves on 25 Shots for a SV% of .880

Cam Talbot: 18 Saves on 20 Shots for a SV% 0f .900

3 Stars of the Game:

3^rd Star: Patrice Bergeron: 1 Goal

2^nd Star: Chris Kreider: 1 Assist

1^st Star: Rick Nash: 1 Assist and 1 Goal

Broadway Bits:

The Rangers are now 22-0-1 when leading after 2 periods this season

The Blueshirts held the Bruins to just 20 shots on goal. This was the sixth time this season that they held an opponent to 20 or less shots and they are 6-0 in these games.

The Rangers recorded 34 hits tonight, with seven different players being credited with three or more.

Cam Talbot won his 5^th game of the season and now has a record of 5-2-0 and a 1.51 GAA, a SV% of .946 and 3 SO’s.

The Rangers killed off 2 more power plays

Marty St. Louis, Kevin Klein, Mats Zuccarello, and Dan Girardi all accounted for an assist.

Henrik Lundqvist may stay in New York and NOT travel to Nashville for Saturday afternoon’s game versus the Predators. This would give him more time to relax and get treatment and not move all around on a flight. The Rangers play Nashville at 3:00 and then fly home to meet the Dallas Stars on Sunday at 5:00

Either way, Henrik is listed as Day-to-Day