Pirri's Pair Lift Rangers to Win Over Bruins

The Rangers often talk of winning the special teams battle and on Wednesday that success was the difference in a 5-2 win over the Boston Bruins at Madison Square Garden.

New York scored two power play goals and was successful in its only time shorthanded against Boston.
Brandon Pirri scored two goals - including one on the power play - while Derek Stepan and J.T. Miller contributed with two assists each to help the Rangers capture its third win in a row.

"I was the benficiary of some good passing." said Pirri after scoring his fourth goal of the season. "The first goal, J.T. made a helluva pass. When you've got a little time like that, you can usually place the puck where you want to. It's not so rushed."
Boston jumped out to a 1-0 lead just 10 seconds into the game on a goal by David Pastrnak, and doubled it on a goal by Austin Czarnik - his first NHL goal - before the first period was through.
It was all Rangers in the second period, though, thanks to a potent power play. Rick Nash got the Rangers on the board with a power play tally for his third goal of the season. Stepan hit Nash with a pass down low, who's first shot was stopped by Zane McIntyre. Nash, though, banked home the rebound to cut the deficit to 2-1.

New York would tie the game at 16:35 of the second when Kevin Hayes banked a shot off McIntyre from behind the net for his second of the season. Ryan McDonagh picked up an assist on the goal to set a new career-high with his fifth straight game with an assist.
With the Blueshirts back on the power play after Girardi drew an interference call on Matt Beleskey in his first shift back after the hit, Pirri roofed a wrist shot top-shelf over McIntyre's shoulder to put the Rangers up 3-2.

Pirri would add his second of the game 2:23 into the third period to make it 4-2 and Jimmy Vesey would score his fourth of the season to put the game away for the Blueshirts.
"There's no panic in this locker room. It's a lot of fun," Pirri said. "We have a lot of belief in ourselves. We know we just have to focus on the next shift, work hard, and then usually good things are going to happen. So, we just bided our time, and then (we used) our work ethic and things started going our way."
The power play finished 2-for-6, and since the start of the 2014-15 season, the Rangers have posted a 36-2-3 record in games that they have outscored their opponents on special teams."
"Tonight, the power play comes up big for us," head coach Alain Vigneault said. "We're 2 for 4 in that in the second period, which gave us momentum. We carried it to the third. We were getting the puck back and we were a little tired there, but we got a couple goals and you're going to have success like that in a tough league where all the teams are so close. Every contribution matters."
Defenseman Dan Girardi momentarily left the game in the second period after being hit in the head by Pastrnak. He did return.
Forward Josh Jooris left the game after the first period with an upper-body injury. He did not return.
Both Chris Kreider (neck spasms) and Pavel Buchnevich (back spasms) did not play. Vigneault said Kreider is day-to-day, while Buchnevich could play Friday night..
The Rangers head to Carolina tomorrow to take on the Hurricanes Friday night at 7:30 pm.