NEW YORK — It had been 51 weeks since the Rangers fans had seen their Blueshirts in person at Madison Square Garden, and when the fans returned to the World’s Most Famous Arena, their team put on a show for them.
Playing their second game since their leading scorer and best offensive player, Artemi Panarin, took a leave of absence, the Rangers rewarded their faithful with a spirited 6-2 thrashing of the first-place Boston Bruins Friday night in the opener of a two-game weekend set. The teams go at it again Sunday afternoon at the Garden.
Ryan Strome had a goal and two assists, Chris Kreider had his fourth goal in two games, and Julien Gauthier, Colin Blackwell, Pavel Buchnevich and Jonny Brodzinski all scored against subpar Boston goalie Tuukka Rask to hand the Bruins their second loss in the New York area in two nights. The Islanders had blitzed Boston, 7-2, Thursday.
The fans hadn’t seen the Rangers (7-8-3) play in person since a 6-4 loss at the Garden last March 7, but New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced on Feb. 10 that spectators could begin attending indoor sporting events this week, with attendance limited to 10 percent of the venue’s capacity.
So 1,800 fans with negative COVID-19 tests in hand were allowed to come to Friday’s game. And those in attendance made themselves heard from the very beginning, cheering warmups, booing when the Bruins (11-5-2) were announced as the Rangers’ opponents, cheering hits by the Rangers, and of course, questioning the referees.
The fans got on Bruins pest Brad Marchand, who started the game by going after Rangers defenseman Adam Fox on the first shift. Marchand rubbed Fox into the end boards, dropped his gloves, and somehow ended up not getting a penalty. The fans roared when Marchand took a hit late in the second period, and got up struggling, and limped to the bench.
On the scoreboard, the Rangers got an early start when a wrist shot from far out by Gauthier somehow snaked its way through a maze of bodies to get by Rask (28 saves on 34 shots) at 13:16 of the first period to put the Rangers in front, 1-0.
After the Rangers killed a high-sticking penalty six seconds into the second period to Kevin Rooney, Strome surprised Rask with a bad angle shot from the right wing to put the Rangers up, 2-0, at 2:32.
Boston got on the board on a goal by Patrice Bergeron, who deflected in a pretty pass from David Pastrnak at 4:02, but the Bruins, who had given up five goals in the third period against the Islanders at the Coliseum on Thursday, crumbled in the final minutes of the second period, allowing two late goals to go into the second intermission down 4-1.
First, Boston’s Nick Ritchie was sent off for tripping Brendan Smith at 18:42 of the period, and on the ensuing power play, Fox blasted a one-timer off a return pass from Strome that got tipped by Blackwell in front to make it 3-1 at 18:52. Then Strome, who had a goal and two assists in the period, stripped the puck from Boston’s Charlie McAvoy as he tried to come out of the left corner, pushing it to Kreider, who picked it up behind the net, skated back the other way, and came out from behind the right post and whipped a shot past Rask at 19:04 for his fourth goal in two games, and ninth on the season.
Buchnevich tapped in a two-on-one feed from Fox (two assists) at 1:45 of the third to make it 5-1, and Brodzniski, forced into the lineup because of Panarin’s leave of absence, crashed the net and tapped in feed from Kevin Rooney at 3:43.
Marchand got a consolation goal for Boston at 7:51.
