BOSTON – Chris Kreider scored his team-leading 14th goal, assisted by Artemi Paren in his first game since leaving the team, and the Rangers lost a three-game streak on Saturday to beat the Boston Bruins 4–0.
Panarin quit on February 22 after Russian tabloids accused a former coach of assaulting a woman from Latvia nearly a decade earlier, which she denies. His return clearly provided a lift to New York.
Keith Kinkaid stopped 18 shots for his first shutdown since 2018. Ryan Strome, Pavel Buchaniewicz and K’andra Miller scored one each for New York, which went 4–0 in Boston on Thursday. Micah Zibanezad added two assists and Kreider added one.
Jaroslav Hallak scored 29 goals for the Bruins, who have dropped eight of their last 12 matches.
The Rangers coined the story about Panarin and designed to intimidate him for his political views against Russian President Vladimir Putin. Andrei Nazarov, his former coach in the Copinental Hockey League, said he was motivated to speak about the alleged incident because he disagreed with the Panarin’s criticism of the Russian government.
Playing in his fourth game this season, the 31-year-old Kinkaid was barely tested, as the Rangers mostly got for the loose puck, limited to the Bruins’ break-in and ability to control the puck in the offensive zone Was.
Finally, a Rangers player can be heard shouting: “It’s a boy, Keith!”
Recalled from the taxi squad on 6 March when Igor Sesterkin was injured, Kinkaid played Thursday in relief, stopping all 13 shots. On Saturday, he scored just 11 goals in the first two periods.
Boston forward Jake DeBrook, who had a goal after scoring a goal on Thursday and was called up to play this season by coach Bruce Cassidy, missed the game as he was in the COVID-19 protocol.
After a lackluster effort on Thursday when he was outplayed for sure, the Rangers were ready from the start, hitting the Bruins early and controlling most of the first two periods.
Reached the net in the far post from Miller’s right point, leading him to just 3:06 into the game, 1-0.
Kreider’s goal made it 2–0 in the second period, when he intercepted Jarid Tinordi’s diving effort through the slot after passing through Jibred to Jibnejad from the right corner.
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