BOSTON _ The good feeling the Rangers had in abundance after their big win over Buffalo Thursday was gone by the end of the first period on Sunday night.
Mika Zibanejad, the Blueshirts' top-line center and leading scorer, took a hit from Boston's Patrice Bergeron near the end of the first period in the Rangers' game against the Bruins at the Garden and left with what the Rangers said was an upper-body injury. The Rangers allowed four goals in the second period and lost, 7-4. But if Zibanejad, who has a history of concussions, is seriously injured and misses an extended period of time, that will be a much bigger loss for the Rangers than this one game.
The game had started off on a bad note for the Rangers (3-5-1) when forward Jesper Fast, who had been scheduled to play on the right wing of the first line, with Zibanejad and Chris Kreider, was a last-minute scratch for what the team called "personal" reasons. The Rangers then failed to get a shot on goal in the first 10-plus minutes of the game.
But they would get a goal, and a lead, on their second shot, as Micheal Haley, the player who entered the lineup when Fast couldn't go, drove the net and poked in the rebound of Brendan Smith's shot to put the Rangers ahead 1-0 at 10:19 of the first.
That, however, was about the last bit of good news for the Rangers.
Zibanejad didn't return to start the second period and the Bruins (8-1-2) tied the game just 11 seconds into it on a goal by Bergeron that stood up after video review. Boston's David Pastrnak drove the net and was tripped by a sliding Libor Hajek, which caused him to fall into Henrik Lundqvist, knocking him backward into the net. Lundqvist stopped Pastrnak's shot, but Bergeron chipped it in over the fallen goalie for his third goal of the season. The play was reviewed and the goal was allowed to stand.
Less than a minute later, the Bruins scored again, with Brad Marchand netting his sixth goal of the season at 1:08 to put Boston ahead, 2-1. Charlie Coyle's first goal of the season made it 3-1 at 9:27, and Marchand's second goal of the game, moments after he exited the penalty box when a four-on-four expired, made it 4-1 at 12:09.
Marchand was in the box serving a roughing penalty after a dust-up that started when a visibly frustrated Lundqvist � who had been arguing with the referees about the Bergeron goal � came out of his net and body checked Pastrnak as he chased a loose puck behind the goal line. Lundqvist and Marchand were each assessed roughing penalties, which created the four-on-four. After Marchand scored, the Rangers called timeout, with 7:51 remaining in the period. Lundqvist, who made 27 saves on 31 shots, did not return for the third period. He was replaced by Alexandar Georgiev, who gave up a goal to Zdeno Chara on the first shot he saw, 43 seconds into the third period.
Pavel Buchnevich scored his second goal of the season for the Rangers at 8:15 of the third, but Bergeron's second goal of the game, at 11:39, made it 6-2. Chris Kreider and Brady Skjei (his first of the season) scored late in the third to cut the deficit to 6-4, but Bergeron sealed it with an empty-netter in the final minute to complete his fifth career hat trick.
The Rangers have one game remaining on this five-game homestand. They will host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday.
