Marchand's OT Winner Propels B's in New York

NEW YORK - As Tuukka Rask sprinted to the bench in the waning minutes of the third period, no one knew quite what the goaltender was up to. The Bruins were tied with the New York Rangers and there did not appear to be any referee arms in the air.
Fortunately, Rask - with the help of his bench - was able to get back to the Boston cage without the Bruins suffering any major damage.
"I honestly thought we were down, 2-1, that's it. Thought we were down, 2-1," Rask explained with a chuckle. "I was waiting for Butchy to wave me over there, I was like, 'why the heck is he not?' A minute and a half left and he's not waving me, I just decided to come when we had the puck. I think Chuckie [McAvoy] told me, 'Buddy, it's 2-2.'"

It was that kind of night for the Bruins.
Despite the near catastrophic lapse, two questionable calls that affected the scoreboard, and some obvious rust after five days off, the Black & Gold found a way to prevail once again.
Led by a stellar performance from Rask, some timely secondary scoring from Chris Wagner and Anders Bjork, and an overtime winner by Brad Marchand, the Bruins left Madison Square Garden with a 3-2 victory over the New York Rangers on Wednesday, extending their win streak to four games and their point streak to nine.
"That's one thing that we do really well," said Marchand, who potted the winner just 36 seconds into the extra session for his eighth goal of the season. "Even when we're not at our best - you can tell we weren't, we didn't play very well tonight - we just have that attitude where we pick each other up, we don't get down on each other. Always trying to help each other out and we get through things together."

Standing Tall

Other than his momentary slip late in the third, Rask was immense in the Bruins' victory, making a handful of Grade-A stops, including a stellar lunging glove save on Mika Zibanejad during the Rangers' second-period power play.
"I didn't recognize that until the puck hit my glove. I just thought it was gonna be a breakaway," said Rask. "I stretched out and made the save. Sometimes, it's one of those that you've got to be lucky to be good, and in that instance I got lucky."
Rask's 33-save outing certainly helped lighten the chirping that followed his third-period gaffe.
"He made a lot of big saves tonight, so he gets a pass for that one," Marchand said with a smile. "I thought we had a power play. I started yelling at [Kevan Miller] to hold it because we had a PP. I didn't see the ref behind us. I just saw Tuukks coming off.
"I was a little confused when Tuukks came back into the net. Luckily, they didn't capitalize on that opportunity, but I think Tuukks was trying to throw everyone off."
Rask, who admitted that he got a good laugh out of it all, hoped he provided a bit of entertainment for the fans watching at home.
"I wasn't panicking at all. I was more laughing actually," said Rask, who improved to 6-1-1 this season. "Definitely not something you want to do. But hey, it's an entertainment industry, I guess, and we try to provide entertainment for the fans. I'm sure people were shocked at first but hopefully they got a good laugh out of that. I sure did."

Calls in Question

The Bruins were not laughing when two questionable calls went against them in third period. The first came early in the final frame, when just over five minutes in, Jake DeBrusk appeared to give Boston a 2-1 advantage with a snipe under the crossbar. The puck appeared that it may have hit off the back bar and then fell across the goal line, but after video review it was determined that neither scenario was clear enough to overturn the call on the ice of no goal.
"Well, on the bench it looked like it hit the inside of the crossbar, the mesh at the top," said Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy. "You could see the whole puck disappear inside the bar. But I think that's just the angle…our [video] guys showed it after and it looked like it hit the bar and goes down. But as it falls into the goal line, it's on edge and looks like it might be past the line.
"Obviously, you need definitive proof. I think if the call goes the other way and they call it a goal, then it probably stands. That's what happens a lot of times. At the end of the day, they didn't see it that way and that's the way it goes."
Boston had more of a beef later in the third when the Rangers tied the game, 2-2, on what looked like a clear high stick from Kevin Rooney. The play, which was ruled a goal on the ice, was not reviewable and stood as the tying marker.
"We had an option to challenge the original play for a missed stoppage," said Cassidy. "There's some factors that go into that…we went back and forth on it, I made the call at the end…it just felt like a night things weren't really going our way in that department so let's just go play, get the next goal, and eventually we did."

Breaking Through

DeBrusk got a bit of puck justice with nine minutes to go when he made a strong feed to Bjork from behind the net that ended in Bjork's first goal of the season and a 2-1 Bruins lead. With DeBrusk returning from a five-game absence due to injury, it marked the duo's first game together with Charlie Coyle as Boston's third line.
"Bjork attacked the net…a good low play," said Cassidy. "That line had some good zip, lots of legs. It's a good team for them, that type of game. You can get into some transition opportunities against them and attack their D. It was a good matchup for them. Tonight, they did their job. Hopefully it gives them some confidence going into Friday's game."
The tally was Bjork's first in over a calendar year, with his last goal coming on Feb. 1, 2020 in Minnesota.
"It felt good. A lot of that credit goes to my linemates. Charlie and JD were playing well tonight and making a lot of things happen," said Bjork. "I got rewarded because of that. It's huge for my offensive confidence. I think this year that hasn't been a strength of mine, but I've been trying to be responsible defensively and trying to bring speed every night.
"Those are things I've been focusing on. But I think I have that offensive ability and show that a little more. Confidence is a huge thing and that's something I'm trying to grow."
DeBrusk, playing in his first game since Jan. 26 against Pittsburgh, had plenty of jump and landed a game-high seven shots on goal and three hits - which was the highest among the Bruins forward group - in 14:08 of ice time.
"Jake brought a ton of energy," said Bjork. "He was shooting the puck which is a huge strength of his. That helped us get going offensively and create chances and also create puck possession off those rebounds."
Bjork believes that both he and DeBrusk have another gear to reach and is hoping that they can continue to build some chemistry as the road trip rolls on.
"I think both of us have more to give. I know I do and I know Jake does, he can dominate games when he's at his best," said Bjork. "It felt good to be playing hard and using our speed at times…there was a lot of shots tonight especially from JD's end, so that felt good for sure."

A Strong Defense

Charlie McAvoy got things started on the Bruins' winning goal when he knocked down Pavel Buchnevich's saucer pass as the Rangers broke in on a 2-on-1. The blue liner then fired the puck out into the neutral zone where Marchand picked it up and finished off the breakaway. It extended his point streak to a career-high eight games (1-10-11), joining Ray Bourque (six times, last in 1995-96) as the only Boston defensemen in the last 35 years to do so, per NHL Stats.
"Charlie made a hell of a play on the last goal," said Cassidy. "Breaks up a 2-on-1. Has the presence of mind to get the puck up ahead to Marchy."
Wagner got the Bruins on the board with a strong defensive effort of his own. The winger blocked an Artemi Panarin shot with the blade of his stick at the point, buzzed by the Rangers' leading scorer to pick up the loose puck, and finished off a shorthanded tally to tie the game, 1-1, at 9:41 of the second.
"I think we have a lot of guys who can be the difference makers every night," said Rask. "Today you saw Wags score the goal on the PK and then Anders scored the second one. We have a lot of guys who can score goals."