The Rangers are coming! To Boston for their final road game of the season as they look to build on their recent success and keep the wins coming. The Rangers are coming off a big 6-3 win on Long Island Thursday night where they collected their seventh win in their last eight games, fourth consecutive. The Rangers will be without the services of Andrew Copp and Filip Chytil this afternoon as they both got banged up toward the end of the last game. The Rangers, who have already been without Tyler Motte and Kaapo Kakko, will certainly be tested be tested as some of their depth guys will get the chance to prove why they should be that next man up when needed.
On the Bruins end, they're 5-5 in their last ten, most recently coming off a 4-0 loss in Pittsburgh on Thursday night. It hasn't been their usual stars leading the way as of late as Erik Haula is their point leader over their five most recent outings. Recent NCAA signing Marc McLaughlin has been a solid addition for this team, leading in the goals category over the last five games with a pair over that same span. While the Bruins have cooled off a bit, the Capitals are heating up as they are now only two points behind Boston in the wild card position, while Boston sits three points behind Tampa for third in the Atlantic Division.
The Bruins will undoubtedly be hungry for a win in more ways than one. You have to think they would much rather finish in third and face Toronto in the first round than they would want to play either Florida, Carolina or the Rangers. The Bruins will also be hungry for their first win of the season against the Rangers, who they are meeting for the third time this afternoon. The Rangers have bested them in their previous matchups, the first of which coming in one of the Rangers best games of the season, a 5-2 win in the annual Day-After-Thanksgiving Showdown. The most recent outing resulted in a lengthy shootout where K'Andre Miller had the final say, giving the Rangers a 2-1 win.
As mentioned at the top, the Rangers will be a bit shorthanded today without Filip Chytil and Andrew Copp who's coming off a natural hat-trick on Long Island Thursday. You have to hope the reason for them not playing is more precautionary than anything. All we know in regards to the injury is Chytil was "a bit sore" from a crosscheck and Copp was initially thought to be fine but was later declared "a lower body injury." With them out of the mix, expect to see something along the lines of:
Kreider - Zibanejad - Vatrano
Panarin - Strome - Gauthier
Lafreniere - Brodzinski - Goodrow
Hunt - Rooney - Reaves
Lindgren - Fox
Miller - Trouba
Nemeth - Schneider
You have to think with playoffs being so close Gerard Gallant won't jumble up the lines all that much and instead will fill in the openings with whichever healthy scratches he wants to get in there. Julien Gauthier and Johnny Brodzinski likely being the favorites to return to action. We could see Lafreniere get bumped up to the second line with a third line of Goodrow/Brodzinski/Gauthier but with Gallant being the traditionalist he is, I wouldn't expect many changes. Expect Igor Shesterkin who had the night off against the Islanders to take the net tonight, likely going up against Jeremy Swayman as Linus Ullmark is listed as day-today.
There isn't much at stake for the Rangers in this afternoons matchup and after losing Copp and Chytil, you have to think there goal is just to get in and get out of this one. They're still looking to compete with Carolina for that first place spot in the Metro but you have to think keeping everyone healthy is the bigger priority. It'll be a good test for this group who has been feeling great about their performance as of late. Look for them to finish their final regular season road trip on a positive note as we approach the final week of regular season action.
Chris Feldman
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