The Boston Bruins look to redeem themselves by finally playing a close game in their last game in New York, against the Rangers, before heading back home to faceoff with the Washington Capitals on Wednesday.
So far in this three-game trip of New York, the B’s have played two games and have been blown out in two games. Against the Islanders, the Black and Gold fell 7-2 thanks to a third period meltdown that saw five goals against in the period.
Their most previous game, against the Rangers, saw a similar occurrence, but this time in the second period where they allowed three goals. They would be dominated in this game by a score of 6-2. This is even more embarrassing when you take into account that the Rangers didn’t even have their top star in Artemi Panarin.
Today, the B’s have a chance to redeem themselves by playing the Rangers once again. They can’t get back the points they lost in their previous two games, but they can at least play a close game today in hopes of at least a point.
Boston Bruins at New York Rangers projected lineups.
Boston Bruins
Record: 11-5-2 (24 points)
With the B’s being absolutely pummeled in their last two games, head coach Bruce Cassidy looks like he’ll be making some changes to the team’s bottom-six forward group.
Anders Bjork and Chris Wagner both come out of the lineup as healthy scratches while Greg McKegg will make his Bruins debut and Karson Kuhlman also makes his way into the lineup.
Defenseman Matt Grzelcyk practiced on the top pair with Charlie McAvoy yesterday, but he is doubtful to play in today’s matinee. However, I think there’s a good chance we see Steve Kampfer today instead of John Moore.
Expect the Bruins to look like this today:
Marchand – Bergeron – Pastrnak
Ritchie – Coyle – Smith
Frederic – Studnicka – DeBrusk
Kuraly – McKegg – Kuhlman
Vaakanainen – McAvoy
Zboril – Carlo
Clifton – Kampfer
Rask (Halak)
New York Rangers
Record: 7-8-3
The Rangers will still be without wingers Artemi Panarin and Kaapo Kakko today as Panarin is still on leave dealing with a personal matter and Kakko is on the COVID-19 list.
However, defenseman K’Andre Miller returned from the COVID-19 list last game and will still be in the lineup today.
I’m not sure who will be in net today for the Rangers, but I’m going to go with Igor Shesterkin after Alexandar Georgiev started last game.
Expect the Rangers to look like this today:
Lafreniere – Zibanejad – Buchnevich
Kreider – Strome – Blackwell
Lemieux – Howden – Gauthier
Di Giuseppe – Rooney – Brodzinski
Lindgren – Fox
Miller – Smith
Johnson – Hajek
Shesterkin (Georgiev)
Where and when to watch Boston Bruins at New York Rangers.
Time: 12 PM EST
Location: Madison Square Garden
TV Broadcast: NBC, SN1
Radio Broadcast: 98.5 The Sports Hub
Hopefully the changes made to Boston’s lineup make a difference. I’m not sure taking out Bjork and replacing him with Kuhlman will make much of a difference, or have a positive impact at least as Bjork wasn’t playing terrible.