BOSTON — Linus Ullmark made 24 saves, helping the NHL-leading Boston Bruins past Patrick Kane and the new-look New York Rangers 4-2 on Saturday.
Patrice Bergeron, David Pastrnak, Charlie Coyle and Tomas Nosek scored, and new addition Tyler Bertuzzi had an assist in his debut as the Bruins cruised to their 10th straight win. Boston improved to 26-2-3 at home and increased its season total to 103 points.
“For us, it’s the Stanley Cup. That’s the only thing,” Ullmark said. “Records are meant to be broken, but once you have the hardware, they can never be taken away from you.”
The goal was Pastrnak’s 44th on the season, and came two days after Boston announced his contract extension. Bergeron’s goal was his 23rd.
Playing his first game since posting a club-record 54 saves in an overtime win at Calgary on Tuesday, Ullmark increased his record to 32-4-1.
Alexis Lafreniere scored both goals for New York, and Igor Shesterkin stopped 20 shots, but the Rangers have lost six of eight and Kane, reunited with his former Chicago Blackhawks teammate Artemi Panarin on the same line, is struggling.
Kane, acquired in a trade with Chicago on Tuesday, is scoreless and a minus-4 in two games with the Rangers, and the team is 0-2.
“There was a lot of good, but there was some bad, too,” said New York coach Gerard Gallant, who agreed that Panarin and Kane are trying to do too much in their first week back together. “They’re trying to force the play too much down the middle, and there’s too many turnovers. Like I said, there’s chemistry there, but you’ve got to make sure we’re making strong plays.”
Boston forward Brad Marchand returned to the lineup after missing the last half of Thursday’s victory with a lower-body injury.
After becoming the fastest team in NHL history to reach 100 points in their previous game, the Bruins completed a three-game season sweep of the Rangers.
Acquired in a trade with Detroit on Thursday, Bertuzzi collected the puck behind the net and sent it out to Coyle, who one-timed it past Shesterkin to make it 1-0 at 18:07 of the opening period. The new Bruins forward raised his stick and pointed at Coyle after collecting his first point with the club.
“It was awesome,” Bertuzzi said of his debut. “Starts with the anthem, it’s a pretty cool anthem. All the guys were awesome. It just feels good to get this one out of the way and now I’m just moving forward.”
Coyle then centered a pass to a cutting Nosek, who shifted quickly at the edge of the crease before tucking the puck into the net just past Shesterkin’s left skate 30 seconds into the second period.
The lively matchup — with fans breaking out in chants for each team — featured two teams that bolstered their rosters for the postseason before Friday’s trade deadline.
New York picked up three-time Stanley Cup champion Kane from Chicago and four-time All-Star Vladimir Tarasenko from St. Louis, while Boston also got defenseman Dmitry Orlov and forward Garnet Hathaway from Washington before reeling in Bertuzzi, who scored 30 goals last season.
New York now has some time to regroup and perhaps reset its lines. The Rangers, in third place in the Metropolitan Division, don’t play again until Thursday, when they meet the Montreal Canadiens.
“Obviously, we want to win hockey games, and we’re not happy with losing,” Rangers forward Mika Zibanejad said. “But, we get a little break now, and a couple of days to just rest up and get going again.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
