Recap: Bruins fall to Rangers, 2-1, in overtime

Penalties caught up to the Bruins tonight.

The Boston Bruins were edged out by the New York Rangers, 2-1, in overtime, in a tight game for 60 minutes as the two best teams in the Eastern Conference battled it out at the TD Garden.

In the tail-end of the Bruins’ back-to-back, they got off to a strong start in an evenly-matched, fast-paced first period.

Trent Frederic put the Bruins up 1-0 in the second period — a lead the Bruins held until midway through the final frame.

As the game heated up, the Bruins found themselves on the kill time and again — the biggest coming at the end of the second period when David Pastrnak was assessed a game misconduct and five-minute major for boarding Ryan Lindgren.

Although the Bruins staved off the Rangers for the first four kills, including Pastrnak’s major, eventually the Vincent Trocheck broke through on his team’s man-advantage to tie the game and push the game into overtime.

The Bruins didn’t have control in extra minutes. After cycling in the B’s zone, the puck found Trocheck’s stick down low for him to get a quick snap shot past Jeremy Swayman and win the game for the Rangers.

The B’s are back in action on Tuesday, Dec. 19 when they face the Minnesota Wild at the TD Garden at 7 p.m.

Here are the highlights:

First period:

Scoreless

Second period:

The Bruins opened the scoring at 2:07 of the second period.

James van Riemsdyk threw a pass out front as Trent Frederic crashed the net. Frederic got his stick on the pass to tap a low shot past Igor Shesterkin’s right skate. The Rangers unsuccessfully challenged for goaltender interference. 1-0 Bruins.

Third period:

The Rangers tied the game at 10:50 of the third period on the power play.

From the goal line, Mika Zibanejad found Vincent Trocheck in the slot where he threw a wrist shot past Jeremy Swayman. 1-1 game.

Overtime:

The Rangers won it 2:03 into overtime when Trocheck scored his second of the night.

Panarin found Trocheck below the circle where he put a quick shot low past Swayman. Final score: 2-1 Rangers.

Game notes

• Jim Montgomery said they would have liked to get both points out of the contest being up 1-0 in the third period, but he was proud of the way his team played throughout and especially with the back-to-back. He highlighted the desperation and adversity the Bruins continue to play through down a few key guys. “I think our resiliency shows,” Montgomery said. “We are building some good things here.”
• Charlie Coyle also touched upon that postgame. “I think a lot of guys stepped up,” Coyle said. “Guys are taking on a little more responsibility with injuries and going down your best player (tonight), that can be a tough task. I thought we responded pretty well.”
• With Charlie McAvoy and Pavel Zacha out and then losing David Pastrnak with the penalty call, the Bruins did show they can play through adversities and not fall apart. The game tonight really had a playoff feel to it and it was encouraging to see how different players responded tonight.
• Frederic keeps evolving into a more net-front guy and it’s great to see him clicking with someone like van Riemsdyk out there who also has that presence and can connect with him. Frederic also continues his role of sticking up for his teammates, dropping the gloves tonight after a hit on Matt Poitras.
• Montgomery said it was more of a stinger for Poitras, but liked how he recovered when he got back out there.
• Credit is also due to Swayman who made 32 saves and some unreal saves on the penalty kill.
• The Bruins were outshot 34 to 22 by the Rangers. Out of the 22 shots — van Riemsdyk, Poitras and Frederic combined for five shots on their line. Through 13:37 TOI, Pastrnak still had the most SOG at five. His linemates and him were really generating some chances before he took the game misconduct. For the first time this season, Brad Marchand didn’t register a shot on net.