BOSTON -- In a Saturday afternoon battle between the top two teams in the Eastern Conference, the Bruins' defense showed up, in an offensive fashion.
The B's won't hang their heads after their 3-2 overtime loss to the Rangers. After all, they did get a point. But they also feel as if they played pretty well.
Both of Boston's goals came from defensemen. Andew Ference scored his fourth goal of the season, and Adam McQuaid scored his second.
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There shouldn't be much concern that all 12 offensive players were held scoreless. Henrik Lundqvist is one of the league's elite goaltenders, and the Bruins' offense, well, it's not like they took the night off.
Also, the Bruins preach a strategy that includes their defensemen jumping into the offensive play, similar to what Ference did, 3:28 into the second period, when he tied the game at 1-1.
Milan Lucic took a rush over the Rangers' blue line and slowed the play down by dishing it over to David Krejci at the right point. Krejci stayed patient, and found a streaking Ference in the high slot, who quickly deked right and put a backhander upstairs.
"It was just a good rush, obviously, by a guy like Krejci carrying it, trying to help out," said Ference. "Obviously we're trying to join more as D-men to help outline that."
McQuaid's goal, with 49 seconds left in the second period, wasn't exactly as perfect an example of the defense jumping into the play as Ference's goal was, but it was still some offensive production from the back end, which is something the Bruins are always looking for.
Down 2-1, McQuaid took a cross-ice pass from Rich Peverley, which was a few feet ahead of him. McQuaid skated up to the loose puck at the right half-wall, stepped into the circle, and beat Lundqvist with a shot that ended up in the top-right corner of the net, tying the game at 2-2.
"Pevs got it across the ice, and I kind of waited for a second to hopefully get some traffic," said McQuaid. "I think it hit their D-man's stick and went in. So, I need that luck sometimes."
It was McQuaid's first goal since Nov. 17, and was Ference's second goal in the last two games. The sight of offense from the defense is always a welcome sight in this day and age.
"I think we needed our D to do a real good job today," said Bruins coach Claude Julien. "Because defensively, the Rangers have been playing pretty well, stifling a lot of teams. And we needed our defensemen to support the attack. We needed them to move the puck well through the neutral zone and get it in. They did a great job of that."
It's something the Bruins look to continue, moving forward, if they want to remain one of the top teams in the conference.
"We always want to try a five-man attack, and get the D up as much as we can," said McQuaid. I think every team likes to do that. At the same time, you've got to be careful. You've got to watch who you're out there against. Some guys like to try and sneak in behind and when there's a turnover, they're quickly back the other way. So, you kind of have to pick your spots when you can get up in the rush, and make sure that they're the right times."
"I think over the last couple of years, it's been more of our focus," said Ference. "It's not even necessarily being a goal scorer. Just to open up lanes and be an option. It helps our forwards, or else they'd just be on their own all the time.
"I think a lot of teams try to do it, and we try to do it the right way," added Ference. "There's kind of a happy medium of recklessly jumping up every time, and also remembering that you're a defenseman. So, I think we do a fairly good job of it. Over the last couple of years, we've been incorporating it a lot more into our game."