Bruins shut out Rangers, extend point streak to 10 games

NEW YORK -- Jaroslav Halak made 21 saves, and the Boston Bruins extended their point streak to 10 games with a 1-0 win against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Friday.

It was the first shutout of the season for Halak, who is 23-8-1 against the Rangers in his NHL career.
"I just try to play my best every night and not every night it's going to work out, but it seems like it's been working against these guys," Halak said. "Tonight, I thought we were really good in the second and third periods."
Nick Ritchie scored in the second period for Boston (10-1-2), which has won five in a row and is 9-0-1 since Jan. 21.
Igor Shesterkin made 29 saves for New York (4-6-3), which lost to the Bruins 3-2 in overtime Wednesday and was shut out for the second time in three games. The Rangers lost 2-0 to the New York islanders on Monday.
"It's not good enough to lose games by a goal," New York defenseman Jacob Trouba said. "It's the NHL and you've got to win games, find a way to get points. Especially in a shortened season, we've got to find ways to win hockey games. That's the bottom line."

Ritchie scored on his rebound when he jammed the puck off Shesterkin from behind the net to make it 1-0 at 9:27 of the second period. It was his fifth goal of the season and first at even strength; his previous four were on the power play.
"It's nice to score a goal any way, it doesn't really matter if it's on the power play, 5-on-5, whatever way it is, it's just nice to see the puck go in," Ritchie said. "I think everyone would take a goal any way at this point."
The Rangers played without forward Artemi Panarin, their leading scorer (15 points), because of a lower-body injury. He is day to day.
Rookie Alexis Lafreniere replaced Panarin on the second line with Kaapo Kakko and Ryan Strome.
"He is that guy one our line who can make plays and make some good passes," Kakko said of Panarin. "It's a little different. I think 'Stromer,' me and 'Lafy' tried to make some plays a little more. It's a little different."
Halak made 10 saves in the first period, including one on Lafreniere, who batted the puck out of the air from all alone in front at 8:41.

The goalie is 4-0-1 with a 1.38 goals-against average and .938 save percentage in five games this season.
"I think 'Jaro' has been solid all year. … I thought he was real good tonight, " Boston coach Bruce Cassidy said. "I don't remember a lot of rebounds honestly coming back out."
The Bruins were 6-for-6 on the penalty kill and allowed five shots in 11:02 of shorthanded time.
"Tonight, it worked out, and I think everybody on our penalty kill, they deserve the credit because they did a terrific job," Halak said.
The Rangers were outshot 24-11 in the final two periods.
"This is a team that's competing for the Stanley Cup and built to win right now," New York coach David Quinn said. "We have a ton of respect for the way they play. They play the right way and we can learn an awful lot of lessons from them, but I was proud of the way we stood toe-to-toe with them."
NOTES: Halak has 51 shutouts in the NHL, fifth among active goalies. … Bruins forward Brad Marchand had his nine-game point streak end (seven goals, six assists), and defenseman Charlie McAvoy had his eight-game point streak end (one goal, 10 assists). … The Rangers are 2-for-31 on the power play in their past nine games. They were 4-for-4 on the penalty kill Friday and are 21-for-21 in their past six games.