Boston Bruins React to Ugly 7-4 Loss Against New York Rangers
NEW YORK – It was flat out ugly for the Boston Bruins.
Falling 7-4 to the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden Saturday afternoon, the B’s dropped their second consecutive game for the first time this season and are facing a real jolt of adversity after a winning start to the year.
“I think the Rangers were just better than us. We weren’t good enough,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said postgame. “Unfortunately, our habits and details have kind of eroded on us defensively here in the last two.”
The Bruins lost 5-2 to the Detroit Red Wings Friday at TD Garden, and much of the sloppy, lackadaisical play that plagued that game seeped into Saturday's Original Six matinee. Boston was weak on pucks, lazy in the neutral zone and disjointed on the rush against a Rangers team that was dealing with the same back-to-back schedule.
“It’s unacceptable,” Charlie Coyle said postgame. “That’s not the way we do things and there’s no reason for that. I can’t really sit here and tell you why that happened, it shouldn’t happen. We have to fix that next game.”
Nov 25, 2023; New York, New York, USA; Boston Bruins left wing Brad Marchand (63) skates with the puck in front off New York Rangers left wing Jimmy Vesey (26) during the third period at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Danny Wild-USA TODAY Sports
In the muck of mediocrity, Coyle was able to pull out a two-goal performance. The forward brought Boston within one at 13:50 of the first period to make it 2-1, before dumping in a rebound off James van Riemsdyk’s shot at 2:29 of the final frame for a 6-4 score and his ninth tally of the season.
Despite Coyle’s individual production, the Bruins’ team game was nowhere close to where it should be and has been at points this season.
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“You’re not going to control the outcome of the game every night, but what we can control is our effort and our compete level and it wasn’t good enough tonight. They came ready to play and we played slow from the get go,” captain Brad Marchand said postgame.
It was unusual for a Bruins team that prides off its grinding, tightly knit identity through the opening 20 games this season. Dropping to a 14-3-3 record, Boston got away from the things that make it successful; smothering forecheck, hanging onto pucks, second-man support and clutch saves from its goaltenders.
While Linus Ullmark – who made 33 saves on 40 shots – is not to blame for Saturday’s meltdown, the netminder was not as sharp as he has been in his previous nine starts. His team leaving him out to dry on a handful of Rangers goals did not help the matter.
Nov 25, 2023; New York, New York, USA; New York Rangers left wing Chris Kreider (20) takes a shot at Boston Bruins goalie Linus Ullmark (35) during the third period at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Danny Wild-USA TODAY Sports
“We just weren’t executing to be honest. They were competing harder than us,” Matt Grzelcyk said postgame after returning to game action for the first time since Oct. 30. “Start the second period off right and then it just kind of got away from us there. I don’t know if we were tired, back-to-back, or what but we’ve got to respond the right way.”
The Bruins will now have to dig deep and get back to their details before taking on the Columbus Blue Jackets Monday night at Nationwide Arena. Perfect regular seasons have, evidently, not been a winning formula for Boston and some November bumps may just do the squad well.
“I’m curious to see how we do it. Losing two games in the NHL — you know, it happens. I think we’ve been spoiled with what we’ve been able to accomplish there for a while in the regular season,” Montgomery said.
“But losing two games in the NHL to a team that’s playing as well as the Rangers — and Detroit jumped us yesterday, they were better prepared than we were — that comes down to all of us — coaching staff, players — being better prepared.”
