Tri-State Area hockey has officially returned. Last night the New York Rangers took a trip up to TD Garden to face the Boston Bruins. This was a game between two of the National Hockey League’s (NHL) Original Six teams. This game also marked Rangers head coach Mike Sullivan’s 1,000th career game. Ironically enough this game was against Coach Sullivan’s hometown.
First Period
The first period started the battle for the Bruins and Rangers. The Blueshirts started their season with seven new skaters on the ice. These new skaters are Oliver Bjorkstrand, Pavel Dorofeyev, Sean Durzi, Marcus Pettersson, Alberts Smits, Eeli Tolvanen, and Joseph Veleno. Neither team scored in the first period but, they were close in shots on goal. The Bruins had seven shots on goal while the Rangers had five shots on goal. The score at the end of the first period was 0-0.
Second Period
The second period was a chance for both the Bruins and Rangers to rack up some points. The second period was the same as the first period. The Rangers would outshoot the Bruins though with nine more shots while the Bruins only secured one shot in the second period. The score at the end of the second period would remain 0-0.
Third Period
It all came down to this: either both teams score or go into overtime. The first 15 minutes of the third period were not too eventful. The Rangers kept racking up shots, but not enough to score. With only four minutes left of the period, a goal was scored. Defenseman for the Boston Bruins, Mason Lohrei assisted center Fraser Minten for the first goal of the season for the Bruins. A minute later, center Elias Lindholm and defenseman Hampus Lindholm set up right winger JJ Peterka for the second goal. Then with 2:31 remaining, the third and final goal of the game was scored. Marat Khusnutdinov and Minten assisted Mark Kastelic’s goal.
The final score of the game was that the Bruins shut out the Rangers with three goals. This would be the second time the Rangers would be shut out on opening night in the span of two years.
Moving Forward
The Rangers are looking to bounce back on Thursday October 1 at their home opener when they will face the Tampa Bay Lightning at 7 p.m. The Bruins will fly west to the Winnipeg Jets on Friday October 2 at 8 p.m.
