Before getting to the actual game, those really are some sharp-looking jerseys that the Rangers wore for the first time in action last night. Not that we haven’t known that for months now, thanks to Sean Avery, but still, those are some classy sweaters. Now, about that game — a 3–2 loss to Boston that ended a fun three-game winning streak that included an overtime win over Buffalo, a brawl-filled blowout of Edmonton, and a dramatic comeback against Pittsburgh.
A bunch of mistakes added up to sink the Rangers in this one: For instance, Erik Christensen inexplicably passing up a shot at an open net in the game’s opening minute (Derek Stepan would take Christensen’s place centering the Gaborik-Frolov line by game’s end), or a particularly bad Dan Girardi turnover that led to Milan Lucic’s goal, or — less a mental error than a shot he’d like to have back — the softie Henrik Lundqvist allowed to Mark Recci that proved to be the game winner. (Boston, by the way, got goals in this one from the 42-year-old Recci, as well as the 18-year-old Tyler Seguin.)
And yet after Marian Gaborik cut the score to 3–2 off a feed from Stepan, the Rangers — who outshot Boston 36–20 — were given a golden chance to tie the game following a Zdeno Chara delay-of-game penalty that gave them a 1:45 five-on-three power play. The result: three shots on goal, all stopped by the red-hot Tim Thomas, who made 34 saves in all on the night. (The Rangers power play did generate one goal in this one — Brandon Dubinsky opened the scoring with his eleventh of the year — but in four chances with a two-man advantage this season, totaling four minutes and 32 seconds, the Rangers have yet to score once.)
The Rangers now hit the road for visits to Colorado and Minnesota on Friday and Saturday, respectively, before returning home next Monday to face Calgary at the Garden.