Boston Bruins: Depth, Defensive Involvement Salvages Point Against Rangers

Patrice Bergeron, the Boston Bruins’ most consistent and most multifaceted player, had a pointless skid extended to three games for the first time this season Saturday afternoon. Ditto Tyler Seguin, the team’s top striker and point-getter.

Granted, it’s tough to paste much shame on such a development when the New York Rangers are the opposition. Saturday was a wrong place, wrong time sort of twist for Bergeron, Seguin and linemate Brad Marchand, who were each confined to a single shot on goal and minus-one rating.

Still, without much input from that line, the Bruins were forced to accept a regulation point and a 3-2 overtime loss. The half-full setup came from secondary scoring, while the half-empty upshot was brought on by a late detonation of discipline.

A careless decision by Andrew Ference whilst converging with Rangers’ blueliner Ryan McDonagh behind the net brought on a five-minute New York power play with 3:10 to spare in sudden death. That, compounded with two unanswered Bruins penalties within the final half of a scoreless third period, doubtlessly drained Boston’s tanks to a premature extent and opened a seam for Marian Gaborik to spoon home a rebound.

Even so, Ference and his fellow defensemen, along with the Bruins’ third line of Chris Kelly, Rich Peverley and Benoit Pouliot, were patently the reason why the host club did not skate off empty-handed.

Out of 34 shots to reach Rangers’ goalie Henrik Lundqvist, 16 came off the blade of a Bruins’ defenseman. A little more than half of Boston’s 66 attempted shots (34) came from a blueliner, including 13 of the 22 that a Blueshirt skater boldly blocked.

The two stabs that eluded Lundqvist and deleted 1-0 and 2-1 deficits were launched by Ference and Adam McQuaid, two traditional stay-at-homers who ventured out of their way to cultivate a timely strike.

Less than two minutes after Ryan Callahan granted the visitors the initial lead, Ference all but emulated Marchand and Pouliot the way he cut to Lundqvist’s traffic-laden porch and absorbed David Krejci’s feed for the equalizer at 3:28 of the second period.

New York’s other regulation lead did not live to see the age of five minutes due to the third line’s aggression and McQuaid’s opportunism in the final minute of the middle frame.

As the three strikers pressed at the site of an offensive zone draw, McQuaid shuffled to within the circle of an open lane. Peverley, the recipient of a Ference feed, found the open point patroller while Kelly screened Lundqvist, who left the top shelf vacant for McQuaid’s high-flying, homeward-bound snapper.

Unfortunately for the Bruins, a nearly daylong imbalance in whistles over the first 40-plus minutes proved to be a nonfactor. If not for New York putting forth the best of its top-class penalty kill, which ranks third in the league, one of four unanswered Boston power plays could have spelled a favorable difference in this tilt.

Barely six minutes after whiffing on their final opportunity, the Bruins brooked the inevitable as the calls started to work against them. Two separate tripping citations against Krejci and Kelly forced the Bruins to spend four minutes out of the last 9:14 of regulation shorthanded.

That, too, failed to hold any immediate sway on the outcome. Residual fatigue may have caught up to Boston’s brigade after it turned into a three-point game and after Ference was expelled. But between Krejci’s infraction and the third-period siren, the Bruins mustered seven attempted shots as opposed to five for the Rangers.

Of the home team’s last seven tries, the only two not to land on net were a pair of McQuaid blasts that Brian Boyle and McDonagh blocked with less than seven minutes remaining.

The Bruins’ most stimulating chance to claim an elusive lead may have even occurred during their first penalty kill. A crisper pass and firmer receipt on the part of Peverley and Marchand, respectively, could have polished off a shorthanded bid.

Moments earlier, Pouliot issued his own heart-stopper when he cut down the far alley in an odd-man rush and issued his only registered stab of the afternoon, which Lundqvist heroically hauled in for a whistle.

A little more salsa and speed on that snap shot and Pouliot may have tied Seguin for the team lead with his fifth game-winning strike. And he would have more or less supplemented the tangible credit he did not get for the role he played in McQuaid’s equalizer the preceding period.

But better yet, with a little more production from their top six to match the upper echelon of the Rangers’ depth chart, the Bruins may have had 67 percent or even 100 percent of Saturday’s loot.

Head coach Claude Julien and company had best file this one under “learning experience.”