Boston Bruins take North Eastern top spot following 2-1 victory over New York Rangers -NHL Update
Boston might not be atop the Eastern Conference like last year, but Bruins secured the Northeast top spot after a hard earned 2-1 victory past, New York Rangers, Sunday night, April 1, 2012, at the sold-out Madison Square Garden in New York, New York.
Veteran Bruins goaltender, Tim Thomas, was outshot widely, 34-21, compared to his New York counterpart, Henrik Lundqvist, but made a number of crucial saves to keep his team alive by allowing only one though.
Marian Gaborik put New York on the scoreboard first with his 40th of the 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season. Gaborik’s milestone goal came after Boston captain, Zdeno Chara, failed to get the goal on a slap shot which forced
the puck to bounce back on the pad with Gaborik taking control and firing it down the ice on a breakaway.
Bruins decided the match in the second period as Dennis Seidenberg potted the equaliser on a fierce shot while Patrice Bergeron foiled New York’s clearance attempt and slid it past Lundqvist on a power play advantage.
"You don't go into a game thinking about one point," New York Rangers centre, Brad Richards, said. "It would have been nice to win. We all know what's at stake, but we've got three games left in the season to continue what we want to do here. It was a big
game for getting ready for the playoffs; it was that type of game. Back to work tomorrow."
Winning was not the only thing Boston was thinking about coming into the matchup against New York according to Tim Thomas.
"It was an important win for a number of reasons," said Thomas. "One of those was to show them we're not a pushover team just in case we get matched up in the playoffs."
Boston Bruins are on a two-game winning streak now. They have the next at home against a raging Pittsburgh Penguins team on Tuesday.
New York Rangers on the other hand, will be facing rival Eastern Conference team, Philadelphia Flyers, on the road on the same day.
Both matchups will definitely be exciting to see as all four teams are big players heading into the postseason.
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