The Bruins had the opportunity to exploit the injured New York Ranger defense, but they only did enough to lose the game on Thursday at the Garden.
The Rangers, without Jacob Trouba and Ryan Lindgren on defense, scored two quick goals by Artemi Panarin in the second period and then responded to the Bruins' tying goal in the third period with a game-winning goal from Adam Fox. This resulted in a 5-2 victory for the Rangers, completing their sweep of the three-game season series against the Bruins.
The Bruins did not want to start their six-game road trip like this.
After successfully killing off the first penalty of the game, the Bruins got their first power play and managed to score the first goal of the game.
The Bruins pressured the Rangers on the power play, but they only scored after Fox returned to the ice following a penalty. Jake DeBrusk scored the only goal of the period at 8:04, marking his 18th goal of the year.
Although there was only one goal in the period, both teams had good scoring opportunities. Erik Gustafsson set up Vincent Trocheck for a redirect, but Trocheck missed the net. Hampus Lindholm prevented Will Cuylle from scoring into an empty net.
Brad Marchand, who had only scored one goal in his previous 13 games, had a great chance to score from the slot, but Shesterkin managed to save it.
The Bruins outshot the Rangers 14-9 in the first period.
In the second period, neither team had a clear advantage early on, but the Rangers managed to tie the game at 7:58. After that, the Rangers controlled the game at both ends of the ice and took the lead with 35 seconds left in the period.
The Rangers gave up very few scoring opportunities and then extended their lead with 35 seconds remaining in the period. Alex Wennberg forced a turnover, and although DeBrusk tried to break up the play, the puck ended up going in.
The Bruins almost fell behind by two goals, but Panarin hit the crossbar before the period ended with the Bruins trailing by just a single goal.
The Bruins tied the game at 3:17, and then Justin Brazeau scored his third goal in two games during a scramble near the net.
The positive feelings only lasted for 40 seconds. At that point, Fox was given the opportunity to take the puck down to the right circle and shoot it over Swayman's shoulder.
Mika Zibanejad secured the win with a goal into an unguarded net with 2:03 remaining, and then Panarin achieved a hat trick with two more goals into an unguarded net.
