Rangers Fall to 3rd in Division and Brace for Trade Deadline

With a shaky performance on his 32nd birthday, Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist endured his second defeat in two games since returning from the Sochi Olympics, a 6-3 loss to the Boston Bruins on Sunday at Madison Square Garden.

The rest of the Rangers did not have much reason to celebrate the passage of time, either: The game was their last before Wednesday's trade deadline and therefore quite possibly their last chance to line up alongside their captain, Ryan Callahan, a pending free agent.

Because Callahan's agent, Steve Bartlett, and General Manager Glen Sather have not worked out a contract extension, many Rangers fans have feared that Sather will not let Wednesday pass without completing a deal involving Callahan, even though he has value for a Rangers team still in the playoff hunt.

The Rangers, who have 20 games left in the regular season, dropped to third place in the Eastern Conference's Metropolitan Division with Sunday's defeat and Philadelphia's victory over Washington earlier in the day. That still leaves them in position for an automatic playoff spot under a system - new this season - that ushers in the top three teams in each division as well as two wild-card teams per conference.

Coming off a 4-2 loss at Philadelphia on Saturday, the Rangers dominated the first period against the Bruins, with a 20-9 advantage in shots. But Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask was superb and kept his team in the game.

The goalie matchup - Lundqvist versus Rask - was the netminding duel that should have been in the Sweden-Finland semifinal at the Olympics. But Rask was ill that day, and Kari Lehtonen played instead in a 2-1 loss for Finland.

Rask got some measure of revenge Sunday.

The Rangers struck early, after J. T. Miller pounced on a David Krejci giveaway. Bearing down on the goal, Miller delayed, pulling Rask out of position and depositing the puck in the net 3 minutes 20 seconds into the first period.

But even though they got off to a slow start, the Bruins drew even late in the period. Miller and Dan Girardi pursued Boston's Milan Lucic into a corner but fell down, leaving the puck for Krejci. He passed it to Jarome Iginla, who shoveled it past Lundqvist with 1:53 to go.

In the second period, Dougie Hamilton and Carl Soderberg beat Lundqvist to give the Bruins a cushion. But Brad Richards got one back when he was left open near the blue line and sent a wrist shot to the top corner of the net.

The Rangers looked ready to equalize when the Bruins were charged with a delay-of-game penalty midway through the third period. But moments after Callahan slid a shot just wide of the post, the Bruins skated down the ice short-handed, and Gregory Campbell roofed a backhand shot to make it 4-2.

Campbell scored again a few minutes later, directing a puck past Lundqvist with his skate. Lundqvist was perhaps not to blame on that goal, but just moments before, he looked clumsy blocking a long shot from Johnny Boychuk and sending the puck straight into the air. It fell right on the goal line but was cleared away.

Lundqvist, who gave up a sixth goal to Lucic, finished with 27 saves. Rask finished with 39.

Ryan McDonagh added a goal in the third period for the Rangers, but it did not change the outcome.

Callahan was a visible presence throughout the game, as he almost always is, at one point drawing the attention of the 6-foot-9 Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara, who face-washed him in a goal-mouth scrum. Callahan parked himself in front of the net on the power play, threw a couple of body checks and earned an assist on Richards's goal.

If this was Callahan's last game as a Ranger, it was an appropriate enough performance. But if time has not run out on his career with the team, he will be at the Garden on Wednesday for a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, four hours after the trade deadline.

SLAP SHOTS

The Bruins won all three of their games against the Rangers this season, the first time they have swept the season series since 1982-83.

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