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Bruins fall to Rangers, 3-2 10.23.10 at 9:32 pm ET
By DJ Bean

Tuukka Rask and the Bruins suffered a bit of deja vu on Saturday night, as the young goaltender played well but allowed goals due to a couple of flukey plays and a breakaway in a 3-2 Rangers victory.

Artem Anisimov and Alex Frolov netted first-period tallies for the Rangers on a batted-in rebound and knuckling puck off Mark Stuart’s glove, respectively. Marc Staal scored on a breakaway fresh out of the penalty box in the second to give New York their third goal.

Nathan Horton and Zdeno Chara picked up the goals for the Bruins, with Chara sending one past Rangers netminder Henrik Lundqvist while the B’s were on a two-man advantage with five seconds left in the first period. Nathan Horton scored his fifth goal of the season in the second period to make it 3-2.

The Bruins are now 4-2-0 on the season, with both losses coming in games started by Rask.

WHAT WENT WRONG FOR THE BRUINS

- Tuukka Rask has now allowed seven goals in two games, and whoever predicted the Garden crowd would be chanting “We want Timmy!” halfway through Rask’s second game should probably head to Vegas.

Though the numbers are obviously on Thomas’ side, for how many of these goals is Rask really responsible? One by this writer’s count, and it dates back to Prague. Four of the other shots have been flukey, and two (one of which was the fault of Daniel Paille) were on breakaways. Rask likely won’t make excuses, but he’s certainly earned the right.

- The Bruins went up against a team that’s been bitten by the injury bug, and they left the game hoping they haven’t come down with something themselves. Johnny Boychuk left the game with an injury sustained on a first-period slash from Brandon Dubinsky.

WHAT WENT RIGHT FOR THE BRUINS

- Peter Chiarelli likely won’t be throwing a fit when the Panthers choose with their third-round pick in the the next draft — Nathan Horton has been worth every bit of the package sent to Florida (15th overall pick, Dennis Wideman, and the aforementioned third-rounder) in the June trade.

Horton now has five goals in six games played and has picked up at least one point in each game this season, the only player on the B’s to do so. He had just one shot on goal in the game, but he made it count by beating Henrik Lundqvist from the hashmarks in the second period.

- Blake Wheeler seems to be just a play away from exploding for the B’s. He’s helped create opportunities that haven’t panned out yet, like when threaded a beautiful pass across to linemate Jordan Caron, who would have had his third goal of the season were it not for Lundqvist getting a skate on it.

Though he had a strong night and played well on the penalty kill, the name of the game for Wheeler is going to be shots on goal. He had just one on Saturday, bringing his season total to 11. The rest of the game has been there of late, and with the shots so too will likely come the goals.

- The power play has produced goals in consecutive games. Last week, it didn’t look like the B’s would see too many goals on the man advantage this season. They’ve now had four in the last two contests, two of which have come from Chara.

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  • Slugo

    DJ, your man-love for Wheeler is getting really uncomfortable. Saturday’s game was his best in a long time. He actually made an effort and skated hard. Those games are very few and far between with this guy. He is everything the B’s don’t want to be. He’s a floater and just slaps at the puck. I don’t understand why he is still on the team.

  • duggy

    only wheelers 3rd year…he is fast as hell…he is beginning to take pj axelssons role and doing a hell of a job…wheels is playing better than he ever did…

    dj…can you find the status on boychuk?

  • DZ

    Don’t worry too much about Wheeler. The one year contract he got this off season will be his last with the Bs. I like the fact that he’s in a contract year because like most athletes, he’ll probably put up career bests. He is the biggest waste of a large frame I’ve seen in a long time. I am always amazed at how easily he goes down to the ice after the slightest bit of contact. He would be a PERFECT fit for a non-contender because there would be no expectations.

  • http://gwecto.supereasyblogs.com/ Weston Mcbath

    Hey would you mind stating which blog platform you’re working with? I’m looking to start my own blog soon but I’m having a tough time making a decision between BlogEngine/Wordpress/B2evolution and Drupal. The reason I ask is because your design seems different then most blogs and I’m looking for something unique. P.S My apologies for being off-topic but I had to ask!

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