Boston Bruins take Game 1 in OT over New York Rangers – NHL Playoffs Update
Being without three of their veteran defensemen really did not give Boston a tough time as the Bruins kept on fighting until the last minute and took Game 1 of the 2013 National Hockey League (NHL) Playoff Semi-finals against New York Rangers, 3-2, in overtime.
Over 15 minutes in the extended period after Boston luckily managed to tie things up in regulation, Brad Marchand potted his first of the postseason and gave the Bruins the lead in the playoff series. Being one of their top players, Marchand was looking
to finally get his name up there on the scoreboard and was certainly relieved to have done so with a game winning shot.
“It's always frustrating,” not to score, Marchand said, according to ESPN, “but there's so many other areas of the game. It's always nice to get the first one and you hope you just keep going.”
Being at home in the TD Garden was definitely a huge benefit, but when a team is without a trio of its high level defenders, things can get hard no matter where the match is taking place. Boston definitely showed a lot of patience when things were not on
their side.
Henrik Lundqvist, veteran goalie of the New York Rangers, did good in regulation but knew when things get into overtime, he is not always as confident. Lundqvist blocked a total of 45 shots and let three through while Tuukka Rask of Boston made 33 saves.
“It was a tough overtime period for us. They came hard,” Lundqvist said. “My record is terrible in overtime, but I've just got to stick with it, play my game and hopefully it'll turn around.”
The first period was slow as both teams failed to score and 20 minutes went by miraculously without a single penalty, but things were bound to get rough and they certainly did in the last 40 minutes. Boston’s captain, Zdeno Chara, kicked off the scoring
at 12:23, followed by a levelling shot from New York’s Ryan McDonagh at 19:58.
Derek Stepan thought he had secured the match for the Rangers 14 seconds into the third and final period of regulation, but Torey Krug’s first postseason goal on a power play at 2:55 forced the overtime extension.
New York and Boston are set to play Game 2 at the TD Garden on Sunday at 3 PM ET.
Tags: