BOSTON — The game featured plenty of reasons for the Bruins to be extra motivated. It was a game against a fellow division leader and a Stanley Cup contender. It was a game not only against a rival, but one who blew them out earlier in the year.
The Bruins have had some intensity and energy issues at the times down the stretch, but they’ve been more prevalent against lesser opponents. Good opponents have usually summoned the best from Boston.
Not on Thursday.
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The 5-2 final margin was a little misleading because the Rangers scored two empty-net goals. But at the same time New York’s 3-2 advantage with goalies present wasn’t representative either because the Rangers outplayed the Bruins by more than a goal.
Bruins coach Jim Montgomery didn’t see this one coming.
“They checked really well. I don’t think we checked well enough. I don’t think we competed hard enough on pucks,” he said and then was asked if he was surprised. “Surprised and disappointed.”
He said the Bruins’ struggles to get to the center was neither the result of fatigue nor the Rangers’ gameplan.
“We should not be tired. I don’t think it’s a reflection of their defense. We should be able to gain middle ice a lot. We just weren’t attacking it,” he said. “They did a real good job checking and we didn’t do a good enough job fighting through their layers.”
The Bruins players talked about taking lessons from it.
“I think we could do a better job of playing a 60-minute game. … We’re not happy with the loss, but there’s a lot of great opportunities to move forward and get better,” Jeremy Swayman said. “You don’t want to lose, but you want to trust the process.”
Hampus Lindholm said Boston needed to look less at what the Rangers did and more at what the Bruins failed to do.
“I think we try to look at ourselves more. We didn’t really get up to our game. They won more battles than us. They were hungrier. That’s something we know we can tighten up,” Lindholm said. “We have to find a way to stick with it over 60 minutes every game and not have spare moments where we kind of get off it. … They outworked us a little bit. We weren’t really playing our A game. Even the nights when we don’t play our A game, we’re usually pretty good at winning those battles. That’s something we lacked a little bit in this game here.”
