NEW YORK -- With the makings of two terrific scoring lines and some strong shooters among their defensemen, the Boston Bruins have put together what could be an impressive offensive attack.

But last night all of that firepower was kept under wraps, failing to dent New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist, who handed Boston a 1-0 defeat before 15,204 fans at Madison Square Garden.

Lundqvist, who was a rookie revelation in goal for the Rangers last year, turned aside all 28 shots, making Adam Hall's late second-period goal stand up.

It was the only shot to beat Boston goalie Tim Thomas, who turned in an outstanding 29-save effort.

"Tim Thomas was excellent," said Boston coach Dave Lewis. "He did a good job of finding the pucks. He made a couple of key saves at key times."

The result might have been different if Boston hadn't been forced to kill of a host of minor penalties, especially in the first two periods.

At one point, the power-play time was a lopsided 11:04-1:04 in New York's favor.

"That's what the preseason is for," said versatile center Wayne Primeau. "To get yourself ready for the regular season. I think that the 'PK' guys did a good job. We didn't get too much power-play time. But at least the positive out of it is that the 'PK' is doing a good job."

Thomas was his acrobatic self as he stopped all 10 shots in the scoreless first period. Midway through the frame, he fended off Thomas Pock's blue-line blast while Jarkko Immonen was all but draped all over him.

Then with 15:50 gone, Rangers rookie Brandon Dubinsky's pass from the left boards found Petr Prucha standing all alone at the post. But Thomas reacted perfectly to the play and stopped Prucha.

"I felt pretty good," said Thomas. "It's always tough to play here. (So) it was good to come in here and have a fairly good game and get (some) confidence."

The stalemate continued until 15:31 of the second, when Hall put the Rangers on the board by polishing off a give-and-go with Martin Straka. Hall collected the puck from Boston's Marc Savard in the Rangers' end, then passed to Straka heading the other way. Straka's shot was stopped by Thomas, who then beat Hall on the rebound. But the puck lay uncleared, allowing Hall to shovel in his own rebound on the backhand.

Boston did put on a spirited charge in the third period, outshooting the Rangers, 12-5, and generating heavy pressure on Lundqvist in the final minute while skating 6-on-4.

But they were unable to slip one past him.

Boston was forced to go with just five defensemen after the first period, after Milan Jurcina had suffered a gash on his elbow after taking a fall.

According to Lewis, the injury wasn't serious, but not wanting to risk the possibility of infection, Jurcina was held out on recommendation by Bruins medics. "He should be OK for practice tomorrow," said Lewis.