If the Bruins could’ve found a Black Friday sale on top-line players, Marco Sturm would’ve found himself waiting in line at midnight last night.

Instead, Sturm and the Bruins had to arrive to TD Garden on Friday morning down David Pastrnak, Pavel Zacha, and even Matej Blumel for a matinee showdown with the Rangers. And it turns out losing an entire line takes a significant toll on the club, with the Bruins thoroughly outmatched by the Rangers on the way to a 6-2 loss on home ice.

It was the Black and Gold’s worst loss in their annual Black Friday home contest since a 5-1 loss to the Hurricanes in this spot in 2006.

Boston’s troubles started early in this one, too, when Artemi Panarin finished off a 2-on-1 put the Rangers on the board at the 3:28 mark of the game.

Panarin’s goal came on New York’s second shot, marking the second straight game and 13th time this season that the Bruins allowed a goal within the first three shots. Seven of those have come with Joonas Korpisalo in goal for the Bruins, and in 70 percent of Korpisalo’s 2025-26 starts to date.

The Rangers then doubled their lead behind a Carson Soucy blast through Korpisalo at the 12:02 mark of the opening frame. The Bruins, meanwhile, struggled to get much on the Rangers’ Igor Shesterkin, who needed to make just seven saves in the opening frame and five in the middle frame.

New York didn’t stop at just two, either, as a pair of power-play strikes from Mika Zibanejad within a 45-second span late in the second period allowed the Rangers to push their lead out to three and then four through two periods.

The Bruins would counter with a pair of third-period strikes — the first from Casey Mittelstadt and the second from Morgan Geekie — but couldn’t muster anything else against Shersterkin (19 saves in the win).

Korpisalo, meanwhile, finished with 30 saves on 35 shots. The loss also marked Korpisalo’s third straight start of at least four goals against.

Down three lineup regulars, the Bruins activated Casey Mittelstadt off the injured reserve (and without a full practice to his name) after the second-line forward was injured in a Nov. 6 contest against Ottawa. Boston also recalled Georgii Merkulov from AHL Providence for his first NHL game of the year.

Mittelstadt finished this game with a goal and two giveaways in 17:14, while Merkulov skated to a minus-1 rating in 10:35 of time on ice.

Pastrnak’s absence, meanwhile, ended what was a streak of 271 straight games played for Pastrnak. That was the 12th-longest active streak in the NHL for consecutive games played. (The Avs’ Brent Burns leads the way among active streaks, with 948 consecutive games played, in case you’re curious.) 

Speaking before the game, Sturm seemed to indicate that the team wouldn’t know more about Pastrnak or Zacha until Saturday morning at the earliest. The Bruins are calling both players day to day in the meantime.

The Bruins will get right back to work Saturday night when they host the Red Wings at TD Garden. It will be the first 2025-26 showdown between the teams.