The Bruins got off to a decent start, but didn’t have enough firepower to match a pretty formidable lineup iced by the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
Things fell apart in the last moments of the second period when the Rangers scored a pair of goals in the final four minutes of the middle stanza, and rolled all the way to a 3-2 win in handing the Black and Gold their second preseason loss this month.
The Bruins opened up the scoring with a goal in the opening minute of play when Jimmy Hayes found Brett Connolly for a tap-in score at the left post, and carried much of the play in the first two periods with 32 shots on net. But Henrik Lundqvist was able to hold things steady for the Blueshirts, and New York broke through with a little less than four minutes to go in the second.
A Ryan McDonagh point shot glanced off Oscar Lindberg with four bodies screening Jonas Gustavsson in front, and went in for the game-tying goal. Then a Bruins turnover in the offensive end quickly got turned back the other way, and J.T. Miller twisted around Adam McQuaid a bit before smoking a wrist shot past Gustavsson for the go-ahead goal.
The Miller goal was scored with 38 seconds to go in the second period, and was really a dagger for a Bruins team that had played awfully well for two periods.
Rick Nash added a power play goal in the third period after corralling a puck that bounced off Matt Irwin in front of the net, and created some cushion for the Rangers. That’s the way the score stayed until the final two minutes of regulation when Connolly scored goal No. 2 of the game by batting a loose puck out of the air past Lundqvist.