Rangers lose third straight despite J.T. Miller's pair of goals
Pavel Zacha of the Boston Bruins celebrates with Elias Lindholm after scoring a goal as Vincent Trocheck of the Rangers looks on during the second period at TD Garden on Saturday in Boston. Credit: Getty Images/Brian Fluharty
BOSTON — Everyone agrees that getting J.T. Miller from Vancouver in Friday night’s blockbuster deal has made the Rangers a better team than they were a few days before that.
Whether he improves them enough to get them into the playoffs, though, is to be determined.
Miller scored two goals in his second Rangers debut Saturday afternoon against the Bruins, but it wasn’t enough to save the Blueshirts from a 6-3 loss, their third straight defeat.
David Pastrnak had a hat trick and Boston (26-22-6, 58 points) scored two power-play goals.
“We play again tomorrow [at home against Vegas]. We’ve got to be able to turn the page,’’ Miller said. “Whenever you lose a game like that, you can play the next day and kind of rewrite the script a little bit. It’s going to take time to sort itself out.’’
The Rangers (24-23-4, 52 points) don’t have a whole lot of time to sort things out, though. The loss dropped them to six points out of a playoff spot with 31 games to go.
Working Miller into the lineup required coach Peter Laviolette to move some forwards around.
Mika Zibanejad, who had been the second-line center, played right wing on Miller’s line, with Artemi Panarin. Panarin’s old linemates, Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafreniere, played with Reilly Smith.
Zibanejad said it was the first time he’s played on the wing in at least 10 or 12 years.
“I think it just frees up a little bit offensively and defensively to know that you have another centerman on your line,’’ Zibanejad said. “You know you’ve got a backup and you have someone you can trust down low [defensively].’’
Long Beach native Charlie McAvoy got the Bruins on the board first, scoring a power-play goal at 10:21 of the first period just as Boston’s five-on-three advantage was expiring. Miller tied it 34 seconds later with his first goal.
Matt Poitras outmuscled Adam Fox behind the net and set up Pastrnak’s first goal to put the Bruins up 2-1 at 17:09.
Boston scored the only two goals of the second period (in which the Bruins outshot the Rangers 10-2) and brought a 4-1 lead into the third.
“We make a mistake, it’s in the back of the net,’’ Laviolette said. “There’s so many things that are preventable with what we’re doing, and we’re not executing and getting it done.’’
With the Rangers still on a power play for the first 40 seconds of the third period, Miller scored his second goal, redirecting a feed from Zibanejad at 35 seconds of the period to pull the Rangers within 4-2. But less than a minute later, at 1:21, Pastrnak beat Igor Shesterkin with a slap shot to make it 5-2.
Jonny Brodzinski’s goal at 10:47 pulled the Rangers within 5-3, but Pastrnak’s empty-net goal with 3:22 remaining made it 6-3.
Notes & quotes: F Adam Edstrom left in the second period with a lower-body injury and did not return . . . Brodzinski replaced Arthur Kaliyev. It was Brodzinski’s first game since Jan. 11 . . . Trocheck won 17 of 21 faceoffs.
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
