As much as B’s fans had to have wanted that second point Wednesday night, the truth is that the first three games of the 48-game season have presented a big test, and thus far they’re passing with a 2-0-1 record.

[Right: It took three games for the first “Yeah they lost, but…” column of the season. It’s been too long.] 

The B’s have had to face the Rangers in two of their first three games. They’ve also had to play two games without Dennis Seidenberg, who has logged the second-most minutes of any Bruin over the last two seasons. They’ve come out of it with a pair of wins and an overtime loss to the Rangers Wednesday that most teams would have dropped in regulation. 

That’s not bad at all. In fact, it’s enough to have them atop the Eastern Conference through three games (or, hilariously, one 16th of the season). 

The B’s were expecting a fast start out of the Rangers Wednesday after New York jumped out to an 0-2-0 start, but they didn’t do enough to stop it. Marian Gaborik scored the first two goals of his hat trick in the first seven minutes of the game. One goal was the result of a brilliantly drawn-up play in the neutral zone and the other was because Dougie Hamilton, who was paired with Andrew Ference (his third defensive partner in as many games) was out of position on a rebound. 

This isn't to applaud the Bruins for turning in less than a 60-minute effort. Especially against a team like the Rangers, you can't have any sluggish stretches. With that being said, the game looked like a goner for the B's early on and they escaped with a point.

Usually, a 2-0 lead should be enough for the Rangers, who can block shots and rely on Henrik Lundqvist until the final period buzzer sounds. The B’s turned it on from the second period on, tying the game on goals from Brad Marchand and Milan Lucic, the first of which came on the power play and the second of which was the product of relentless work from Boston’s power forward. They’d later tie it again in the third period on Nathan Horton’s first goal since suffering a concussion on a hit from Flyers forward Tom Sestito last Jan. 22.

For the power play’s sake, Marchand and Dougie Hamilton finally got the all-too-familiar monkey off the Bruins’ back. The Bruins hadn’t scored in 11 power plays before Hamilton fired a shot that Marchand redirected, and it stood as the 19-year-old rookie’s second scoring opportunity on the man advantage Wednesday. More notably, it was Hamilton’s first career point. 

As has been the case each contest this season, the David Krejci line showed up once again. The trio was on the ice for Gaborik’s first goal, but it took advantage of a second-period line change to create a 4-on-2 that resulted in Lucic’s goal. Though he did it in 4-on-4 play and independent from his usual linemates (longtime teammate Gregory Campbell assisted it), it was nice to see Nathan Horton both score again and remind Bruins fans that he has a knack for coming up with big goals in key spots.

Then there’s the play of Tuukka Rask. Yes, he allowed four times as many goals as he had in each of the Bruins’ first two games on Wednesday night, but his work between the pipes was the No. 1 reason the game even saw overtime. After Rick Nash danced around Lucic in the Bruins’ zone to create a 2-on-1 with Gaborik with under 55 seconds to play, Rask made a sensational pair of saves in succession. He first denied Nash’s wrist-shot before laying out to stop Gaborik’s follow-up from the other side.

That was Rask’s finest moment as a starter this season, though he turned in some other candidates (including the last-minute bid and another second-chance bid in the first period, Gaborik could have easily had five goals Wednesday) in what proved to be his first defeat of the season. 

On the Seidenberg front, the veteran defenseman participated fully in Tuesday’s practice and Julien said afterwards that he was “pretty close” to a return. Either he wasn’t close enough or he suffered some sort of setback, but Seidenberg missed his second consecutive game with what the team will only call a lower-body injury. When he comes back, he’ll provide some stability both for the team’s blueline and for Hamilton, who began the season as Seidenberg’s partner.

Now that these games against the Rangers are in the books, the Bruins’ schedule gets a bit easier. Seven of the Bruins’ next eight games will come against teams that missed the playoffs last season, with the Devils standing as the only exception. After that eight-game stretch, they’ll face the Rangers once again. 

At that point, the season will be nearly a quarter done and we should know a lot more about both the Rangers and the Bruins than we do now. They may no longer be undefeated, but thus far the Bruins have handled what’s been thrown their way pretty well.