JT Miller scores twice after trade; Rangers fall to Bruins

Less than 24 hours before the New York Rangers and Boston Bruins dropped the puck on Saturday afternoon, the Blueshirts made the move to reacquire forward J.T. Miller, plus Erik Brannstrom and Jackson Dorrington from the Canucks in exchange for Filip Chytil, Victor Mancini and a conditional first round pick.

Miller found the back of the net twice but it wasn’t enough as Bruins forward David Pastrnak tallied a hat trick in the Rangers’ 6-3 loss in Boston.

After a 10-game point-streak (7-0-3), the Rangers have lost three in a row. They failed to gain any ground in a highly contested Eastern Conference playoff picture and now sit six points back of the Bruins for the second and final wild card spot.

It’s a quick turnaround for the Rangers, who return back home to Madison Square Garden to face the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday night.

New York only has four games left — three at home and one on the road — before the two-week break in action for the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament.

It will be a crucial stretch to pick up any points possible before the stop for the Blueshirts, who face off against the Bruins again on Tuesday night at MSG.

J.T. Miller impact felt immediately in first game

What a 24 hours it’s been for Miller.

The veteran forward didn’t land in Boston until 4 a.m. after coming on a flight over from Dallas where Vancouver was playing on Friday night.

Miller brought an immediate spark to the Rangers’ lineup, tying the game at 1-1 past the halfway point of the first period.

On the scoring play, Artemi Panarin’s forecheck led directly to a loose puck that went right to Miller, who slapped it home for the Rangers’ first goal of the afternoon.

The 13-year-veteran wasn’t done there, as he added his second of the night on the power play when he tipped a shot from Mika Zibanejad to cut the Bruins’ lead in half.

The goals were Miller’s first with the Rangers since Feb. 25, 2018 and his first multi-goal performance with the organization since March 28, 2017.

He had one other two-goal effort this season with the Canucks, coming less than a month ago on Jan. 6.

‘He (J.T. Miller) brings a unique combination of skill, size and physicality to our team. He helps us here in the short-term, but he will be a key part of our core moving forward,’ Rangers president and general manager Chris Drury said in a statement released by the team on ‘X’ (formerly known as Twitter) before the game.

‘He’s a terrific 200-foot player. He plays both sides of the puck, both special teams, he has a physical element and a high level of compete that we’re excited to bring to our group.

Second period the difference maker

Despite trailing 2-1 after 20 minutes, momentum swung in favor of the Bruins once the puck dropped to start the second period.

Boston scored less than four minutes in to extend its lead and would later take a 4-1 advantage late in the second after Pavel Zacha scored on the power play.

The Rangers posted only two shots on goal in the second period and their first one didn’t come until the 10:32 mark.

The Bruins — who came into the 30th ranked power play (13.6 percent), were able to score two goals on the man advantage against New York’s fourth-ranked penalty kill (83.7 percent).

Whenever the Rangers would score to tie or cut into Boston’s lead, the Bruins would always have an answer.

This came case in point in the third period. After Miller scored his second goal 35 seconds into the final frame, Boston responded immediately, with Pastrnak adding his second of the afternoon 46 seconds later. He added an empty netter to cement his first hat trick of the season.

Igor Shesterkin’s struggles continue

Since the Rangers’ 10-game point streak came to an end, Shesterkin has had a disastrous few outings.

The former Vezina Trophy winner has now allowed 14 goals in his last three games, all losses.

In the two earlier losses, Shesterkin surrendered four goals to the Hurricanes and five goals to the Avalanche, with both games coming on home ice.

Even with those disappointing performances, he still finished January with a solid 2.07 goals against average and .921 save percentage.

On a back-to-back and making a fourth consecutive start, it’s all but likely that backup Jonathan Quick will be in net on Sunday night. He’s still sitting on career win No. 399 after suffering losses in his last three starts.

After that, Shesterkin will make at least two to three more starts before the break to try to bounce back into form.