The Rangers have a big test on their hands as they’re back at it tonight, hosting the big bad Boston Bruins. It’s no secret that the Bruins have been the best regular season team this year, having only lost nine games on the year, five of which coming in regulation. At some point, you have to think something’s going to give and with Boston taking on the Rangers in the second half of a back to back, the Rangers need to take advantage of their fresh legs and come out strong against this powerhouse of a team. The Rangers have had plenty of time to recoup from their back to back over the weekend and are expected to have Kreider back after missing a handful of games with an upper body injury. They have to look at this game as a big test and go into it with a playoff type of intensity.
In their last ten, the Bruins have gone 8-1-1 with their only losses coming from Seattle and Buffalo in overtime. They’re coming off a 4-1 win on Long Island last night and prior to that, a dominant 6-0 win against the Flyers. Boston is first in the league for goals for and against, first on the penalty kill, third best on the power play and second in face-offs. Not much room for error all around. They’re getting big contributions from their Czech line of David Pastrnak, David Krejci and Pavel Zacha who is fresh off a well deserved four year contract extension. Pasta has been the big man on campus for Boston, leading the team with 63 points on the season with six goals and three assists in his last five games.
Another one of Boston’s strong suits has been their goaltending as starter Lins Ullmark has a record of 24-2-1 on the season with a .937 save percentage. Pretty impressive. With him getting the start against the Islanders last night, the Rangers will likely see the second half of the Bruins goaltending duo in Jeremy Swaymon. The University of Maine product has also had a great season backing up Ullmark with a record of 10-3-3 on the year and a .912 save percentage. There’s no question they’ve become one of the top goalie pairs around the league so getting a surplus of shots off from the start of tonight’s action will be pivotal for the Rangers.
The Rangers on the other hand may not have as great of a record on the season, but have sneakily been one of the top teams in the league since December. With a 6-2-2 record in their last ten and only losing three regulation games since December 5th, the Rangers are looking to turn on the jets and ride into the All-Star break on a positive note. With four games remaining in that span, they’ll kick things off with Boston tonight who they haven’t seen since November 3rd where they lost by a score of 5-2. The Rangers have certainly found their footing since that game and are a completely different team. Some of the key aspects they’ll want to focus on turning around from that last meeting are shots on net and winning face-offs, two areas they got destroyed in against Boston previously.
Special teams will undoubtedly be another key factor and with the Rangers power play unit’s showing some sparks as of late, they need to find a way to convert consistently. Hopefully with Kreider returning to the lineup, that will help the top unit find their swagger again. Adam Fox will be at the forefront of that as he has been all around the Rangers play as of late, leading the team in goals, assists, points and plus/minus in their last five games. If there was any doubt of Adam Fox being one of, if not the top defender in the league, it’s certainly re-engaging that conversation with how good he’s been as of late. He’ll be going up against a potential competitor for this season’s Norris Trophy and you might be surprised to know, it isn’t his good buddy Charlie McAvoy.
Hampus Lindholm was traded to the Bruins at the deadline last season and quickly proved to be more than a rental as he signed an eight year contract extension. This season, he has flourished into an elite defenseman in the NHL and is not only putting up career numbers, but is definitely leading the conversation for Norris Trophy consideration. Going into tonight’s game, Lindholm is just five points shy of tying his career best which came in his sophomore season in the league with Anaheim. Safe to assume that the Bruins are just as dangerous on the back end as they are offensively. With that in mind, tonight should not only be a great game for fans of either team, but for fans around the league to tune into.
As far as the Rangers lineup goes, it was mentioned that Chris Kreider is expected to return to the mix and it appears that Sammy Blais will be the odd man odd as both Jake Leschyshyn and Jonny Brodzinski have seemed to pass him in the depth charts with Julien Gauthier still hurt. That being said, expect the following for tonight:
Kreider - Zibanejad - Kakko
Panarin - Trocheck - Kravtsov
Lafreniere - Chytil - Vesey
Goodrow - Leschyshyn - Brodzinski
Lindgren - Fox
Miller - Trouba
Harpur - Schneider
In goal, expect Igor Shesterkin to return to the net after taking game two of the back to back off allowing Jaroslav Halak to stay involved. The Rangers will definitely look to Igor to have a big game as they’re going up against the top offensive team in the league right now. A challenge you can bet Igor will eagerly accept.
Chris Feldman
Comments