The Boston Bruins outshot the New York Rangers 34-15 on Thursday night, and cruised to a 4-0 win at TD Garden in Boston.
Patrice Bergeron opened up the scoring and had the eventual game winner at 7:11 of the first period, his 22nd of the season and assist number 37 for Brad Marchand. Marchand added another assist along with David Pastrnak on a Charlie McAvoy powerplay goal at 18:35 to double the lead. Jake Debrusk got a second period goal and Brandon Carlo added one in the third for Boston (32-14-7). Igor Shesterkin stopped 30 shots in goal for New York (26-23-6). Jeremy Swayman stopped all 15 shots, his second career NHL shutout, improving his record to 7-2-0. The former University of Maine product has only allowed 13 goals in nine starts. David Krejci also added two assists along with Marchand.
Boston is now only four points behind Pittsburgh for the East Division #1 seed, and only two points behind second place Washington. The Bruins have three regular season games remaining, including a rematch on Saturday with the Rangers before facing the Islanders and Capitals in the final two games on Monday and Tuesday.
