Henrik Lundqvist blocks all as New York Rangers shutout Boston Bruins 3-0 -NHL Update
It was a meeting between the two top teams of the Eastern Conference, New York and Boston, which was certainly one of the most anticipated matchups as to see where the two teams were in terms of competitive level.
The Stanley Cup defending Boston Bruins were stunned as the Rangers blocked all of their shots and shut them out, 3-0, Tuesday night, February 14, 2012, at the sold-out TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
New York continued to stay hot as the Rangers grabbed their fourth straight victory of an otherwise perfect month had New Jersey Devils defeated them.
"No doubt, right now they're playing the best," Boston Bruins head coach, Claude Julien, said about Boston. "They're playing like we did last year when we were playing well. Right now that's the identity we're looking for again."
Boston on the other hand has had it up and down so far these past few contests as they have only won two of the last six.
Ryan Callahan kicked off the scoring with his 23rd of the 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season on their first power play opportunity midway through the first period.
Ryan McDonagh followed up with the extension shot on the breakaway chance taken by him after grabbing the puck with less than a minute to go until the buzzer sounded.
Both teams surprisingly failed to scored in the second period along with giving any penalties despite the rising tensions between the two except for a single roughing incident between Marc Staal and Rich Peverley.
Henrik Lundqvist was widely outshout in comparison to his Boston counterpart, Tim Thomas, 42-20, but still managed to play perfectly by blocking all attempts made on his net.
"I think it's important that we keep challenging ourselves," said Lundqvist. "Yeah, we have a little gap, but we need to keep working on our game. To be No. 1 at the end of the year is not our goal. Our goal is to keep playing until June."
Artem Anisimov capped off the match with his 10th of the season and first of the night in the opening minutes of the third.
Rangers have the next two at home starting off against Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday while Boston Bruins kick off their six-game road trip against rival team, Montreal Canadiens, on Wednesday.
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