ESPN News Services4:49 PM ET3 Minute Read
BOSTON — Linus Ullmark made 24 saves to help the NHL-leading Boston Bruins 4-2 past Patrick Kane and the new-look New York Rangers on Saturday.
Patrice Bergeron, David Pastrnak, Charlie Coyle and Tomas Nosek scored, and new signing Tyler Bertuzzi had an assist on his debut as the Bruins drove to their 10th straight win. Boston improved to 26-2-3 at home, taking their season total to 103 points.
“For us it’s the Stanley Cup. That’s the only thing,” said Ullmark. “Records are meant to be broken, but once you’ve got the hardware, you can’t take it away from you.”
The goal was Pastrnak’s 44th this season and came two days after Boston announced his contract extension. Bergeron’s goal was his 23rd.
Ullmark played his first game since making a club-record 54 extra-time saves in Calgary on Tuesday, taking his record to 32-4-1.
Alexis Lafreniere scored both goals for New York and Igor Shesterkin stopped 20 shots, but Rangers have lost six of eight and Kane, who is reunited on the same line with former Chicago Blackhawks teammate Artemi Panarin, is struggling.
Kane, acquired in a trade with Chicago on Tuesday, is scoreless and down 4 points in two games with the Rangers and the team is 0-2.
“There was a lot of good but also a lot of bad,” said New York coach Gerard Gallant, who agreed Panarin and Kane are trying too hard in their first week together. “They try to center the game too much and there are too many turnovers. Like I said, there’s chemistry there, but you have to make sure we play strong games.”
Boston forward Brad Marchand returned to the lineup after missing the latter half of Thursday’s win with a lower body injury.
After becoming the fastest team in NHL history to score 100 points in their previous game, the Bruins completed a three-game win of the season against the Rangers.
Bertuzzi, acquired in a trade with Detroit on Thursday, collected the puck from behind the net and sent it to Coyle, who hit it once past Shesterkin for 1-0 at 18:07 of the opening period. The new Bruins forward raised his racquet and pointed at Coyle after collecting his first point with the racquet.
“It was great,” Bertuzzi said of his debut. “Starts with the anthem, it’s a pretty cool anthem. All the guys were great. It just feels good to get those out of the way and now I just keep going.”
Coyle then centered a pass to a penetrating nosek, which moved quickly on the edge of the crease before netting the puck just behind Shesterkin’s left skate after 30 seconds of the second period.
The lively matchup — with fans erupting in chants for each team — featured two teams bolstering their rosters for the postseason ahead of Friday’s close.
New York brought in three-time Stanley Cup champion Kane from Chicago and four-time All-Star Vladimir Tarasenko from St. Louis, while Boston also brought in defenseman Dmitry Orlov and forward Garnet Hathaway from Washington before catching Bertuzzi, who has the last 30 goals Season.
New York now has some time to regroup and maybe reset its lines. The Rangers, third in the Metropolitan Division, won’t play again until Thursday when they meet the Montreal Canadiens.
“Obviously we want to win hockey games and we’re not satisfied with losing,” said Rangers forward Mika Zibanejad. “But we’ve got a little break now and a few days to rest and get going again.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.