Rangers beat Bruins in overtime

Shawn Thornton vs Mike Rupp
Boston Bruins' Shawn Thornton (22) and New York Rangers' Mike Rupp (71) fight in the second period of an NHL hockey game in Boston, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
Today's afternoon game between the Bruins and New York Rangers was a good one. There was a lot of back and forth action with the Bruins having more chances after the Shawn Thornton-Mike Rupp fight. The game would go into overtime tied 2-2 and then Andrew Ference made a bad hit on Rangers Ryan McDonagh and the Rangers scored with four seconds left in the period.

In the first period, no scoring happened.

In the second period, Ryan Callahan would make it 1-0 for the Rangers. A little more than a minute later, Shawn Thornton and Mike Rupp dropped the gloves and had a good fight with both guys trading punches. Thornton has never had real success the past few seasons fighting Rupp but he did better than the past fights. Less than a minute later, Andrew Ference scored his 4th goal of the season to tie the game 1-1. Later, Marian Gaborik scored to make it 2-1 Rangers. With 49 seconds left, Adam McQuaid scored his 2nd goal of the season to tie the game 2-2. McQuaid's shot went off of Brian Boyle's stick or skate and went up high and in the short-side corner to beat goalie Henrik Lundqvist.

In the third period, no scoring happened.

In overtime, the puck went deep in the Rangers end, Andrew Ference came rushing in too fast and hit Ryan McDonagh against the boards. McDonagh looked to have his shoulder hurt on the play. I don't think Ference made contact with McDonagh's head but regardless it was a bad hit. Ference got a 5-minute major for charging and a game misconduct. Look for Shanahan to have at least a talk with Ference and a suspension most likely will come.

After the game Andrew Ference said this about the hit (quotes taken from Bruins reporters on Twitter):
"I'm obviously going as fast as I can to get to the puck, and when I realized I wasn't going to get there first, he boxed me out."

"I tried to lean back, but I was going too fast. Obvsly it was a dangerous position.I tried to let up and didn't let up fast enough."

Game notes
The Bruins led the game in shots 34-33 and faceoff wins 32-27. The Rangers led the game in hits 27-12 and blocked shots 22-14.

The Bruins went 0-for-4 on the power-play while the Rangers went 1-for-2.

Tuukka Rask played well making 30 saves on 33 shots. Rask is now 11-4-2 with a sick 1.69 GAA and a .943 save percentage.

Andrew Ference had a goal and an assist, was +2 and had 3 shots.

Johnny Boychuk and Joe Corvo both had 4 shots apiece to lead the Bruins.

Dennis Seidenberg had 7 blocked shots but he was -2.

Gregory Campbell led the Bruins with 3 hits.

Defenseman Steven Kampfer was recalled by the Bruins after the game.

Onto the next one
The Bruins are now 30-13-2 with 62 points. The Bruins next game is tomorrow at the Philadelphia Flyers at 3pm ET.

Comments

AdamBruinsFan said…
Andrew Ference is having a phone call today with Shanahan.

In other bad hit plays from yesterday, Detroit's Henrik Zetterberg's push on Columbus's Nikita Nikitin on an icing call, got Zetterberg nothing, no suspension, no fine, nothing. Video here: http://www.kuklaskorner.com/index.php/tmr/comments/red_wings_henrik_zetterberg_tossed_for_hit_on_nikita_nikitin/
AdamBruinsFan said…
Ference has been suspended but the amount of games hasn't been determined yet, so Ference isn't playing today vs Flyers.