Bruins at Rangers 2/26/21: Game preview, lineups, and more

The Boston Bruins square up with the New York Rangers for the second leg of a back-to-back. They’ll be looking to bounce back after being blown out last night by the New York Islanders by a score of 7-2.

While the B’s just played last night, the Rangers haven’t played since Wednesday. Here, they lost a back-and-forth game against the Philadelphia Flyers by a score of 4-3.

This matchup be the third between these two teams so far this season. The Black and Gold won the previous two by scores of 3-2 and 1-0.

This will be an interesting game to watch as Boston is still down several key players, including two-thirds of the left side of their defense, and the Rangers will be without star winger Artemi Panarin as he’s on a leave of absence due to a personal matter with Russia.

Boston Bruins at New York Rangers projected lineups.

Boston Bruins
Record: 11-4-2 (24 points)

Like last night, the B’s will still be without center David Krejci, right wing Ondrej Kase, and defensemen Matt Grzelcyk, Kevan Miller, and Jeremy Lauzon.

Head coach Bruce Cassidy said that Urho Vaakanainen will play tonight despite having some issues last night. However, there could be a change to the defense, but this will be a game-time decision.

With Miller not traveling with the team on this road trip, the only thing that could change is Steve Kampfer being put in the lineup. He would most likely go in for either John Moore or Connor Clifton.

Expect the Bruins’ lineup to look like this tonight:

Marchand – Bergeron – Pastrnak
Ritchie – Coyle – Smith
Bjork – Studnicka – DeBrusk
Frederic – Kuraly – Wagner

Vaakanainen – McAvoy
Zboril – Carlo
Kampfer/Moore – Kampfer/Clifton

Rask (Halak)

New York Rangers
Record: 6-8-3 (15 points)

As I mentioned earlier, the Rangers will be without Artemi Panarin tonight as he continues to deal with a personal matter involving Russia. The Rangers will also still be without center Filip Chytil, as he’s still recovering from an injury.

Additionally, the Rangers will also be without winger Kaapo Kakko and rookie defenseman K’Andre Miller as they’re both on the COVID-19 list.

Expect the Rangers’ lineup to look like this tonight:

Lafreniere – Zibanejad – Buchnevich
Kreider – Strome – Blackwell
Lemieux – Howden – Gauthier
Di Giuseppe – Rooney – Brodzinski

Lindgren – Fox
Johnson – Smith
Bitetto – Hajek

Georgiev (Shesterkin)

Where and when to watch Boston Bruins at New York Rangers.

Time: 7 PM EST

Location: Madison Square Garden

TV Broadcast: NESN, MSG, NHL Network, TVAS, SN

Radio Broadcast: 98.5 The Sports Hub

As I previously stated, this should be an interesting game as both teams are missing some key players. However, I think the Rangers will have to withstand an early push by the Black and Gold as they look to score early and often after getting embarrassed last night by the Islanders.