New York Rangers: Another night, another tough test

NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 06: Filip Chytil #72 of the New York Rangers celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal in the third period against Jaroslav Halak #41 of the Boston Bruins at Madison Square Garden on February 6, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - FEBRUARY 06: Filip Chytil #72 of the New York Rangers celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal in the third period against Jaroslav Halak #41 of the Boston Bruins at Madison Square Garden on February 6, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images)
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NEW YORK, NEW YORK – FEBRUARY 06: Jaroslav Halak #41 of the Boston Bruins makes the save on Mika Zibanejad #93 of the New York Rangers during overtime at Madison Square Garden on February 06, 2019 in New York City. The Rangers defeated the Bruins 4-3 in the shoot-out. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – FEBRUARY 06: Jaroslav Halak #41 of the Boston Bruins makes the save on Mika Zibanejad #93 of the New York Rangers during overtime at Madison Square Garden on February 06, 2019 in New York City. The Rangers defeated the Bruins 4-3 in the shoot-out. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

It doesn’t get any easier for the New York Rangers who are in action against the Boston Bruins tonight after being humbled at Madison Square Garden on Monday.

Despite racing into an impressive two-goal lead against the Pittsburgh Penguins, the New York Rangers gave up five unanswered goals as another tally was added to the loss column.

It all seemed a far cry from Saturday night when the Blueshirts mustered up a titanic effort to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-1 in overtime, a victory that came courtesy of Ryan Strome‘s winner and yet another colossal showing from Alexandar Georgiev between the pipes.

There was jubilation on the Rangers bench after snapping a five-game losing streak, with the celebrations masking the fact that a second consecutive season without playoff hockey had officially been sealed.

You can’t rest on your laurels in sports, however, and the Rangers were brought crashing back to earth on Monday with an almighty bump.

Brendan Lemieux and Vinni Lettieri, both handed extra responsibility in the last two games, repaid the faith of Head Coach David Quinn with a goal each in the first period, but the Penguins came surging back to inflict a crushing loss on New York, who are now 17-13-8 at home this season and 2-6-2 in their last ten games overall.

It was the second outing in a row that the Rangers had pitted their wits against a team that will be involved in the postseason, and it doesn’t get any easier tonight.

The Boston Bruins have been a formidable force all year and many have them down as the team that can really give the history-making Tampa Bay Lightning a run for their money.

Although the Bruins were put to the sword by the Lightning on Monday following a third period masterclass from the NHL leaders, they are still firmly locked in an intriguing battle with the Calgary Flames for the second spot overall in the league.

The Bruins have slumped a bit lately, playing .500 hockey over their last eight games.  Before that, they were the hottest team in the NHL.  After losing to the Rangers on January 19, Boston went on an amazing stretch in which they collected at least one point in 19 straight games (15-0-4).

The top line in hockey?

Boasting arguably one of the top lines in hockey, the B’s have seen Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak truly flourish this year with the trio combining for a hugely impressive 241 point haul (98 goals, 143 assists).

Perhaps surprisingly it is Marchand – better known for his tormenting antics and trash talking on and off the ice – who leads the Bruins in points this season with 94 (34 goals, 60 assists), 19 more than line-mate and team lynchpin Bergeron who has missed 15 games with assorted injuries.

There is no doubt that Marchand, who had two tucks against Tampa Bay, has a bucketload of offensive talent and the Rangers will have their work cut out just dealing with Boston’s deadly trio alone.

The Bruins get offensive production from all four lines and their blueline, though, with David Krejci, Torey Krug, Jake DeBrusk, Danton Heinen and Charlie McAvoy all with 25 or more points.

Boston also has the third best power play in the NHL with a percentage of 26.1, behind only the Florida Panthers and the Lightning.

Make no bones about it, the Rangers are in for another tough examination at TD Garden tonight and it could be another blowout if they commit the same sins as they did against the Penguins on Monday.

David Quinn will want to see a plethora of grit and fight from his team and, although this won’t be popular amongst fans who want more losses in order to improve the lottery standings, the Rangers will be set up to be competitive tonight against a Bruins team very much at the peak of their powers.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MARCH 25: Brendan Lemieux #48 of the New York Rangers celebrates his goal against the Pittsburgh Penguins at 8:25 of the first period at Madison Square Garden on March 25, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MARCH 25: Brendan Lemieux #48 of the New York Rangers celebrates his goal against the Pittsburgh Penguins at 8:25 of the first period at Madison Square Garden on March 25, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

Stuff you need to know

About the Rangers

  • The New York Rangers are 29-33-13 this season.
  • They are 2-6-2 in their last ten games.
  • New York is also 12-20-5 on the road this year.
  • Rejoice! A power play goal finally! Vinni Lettieri’s first goal this year was only the Rangers third goal on the man advantage in their last 13 games.
  • New York are 19.1 on the power play this season – ranked 17th in the NHL.
  • The Rangers are also ranked 26th on the penalty kill with 78.7 after allowing a power play goal against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday night.
  • One would assume that Henrik Lundqvist will get the start tonight after watching on from the bench for the last two games.
  • Chris Krieder missed Monday’s game and is still considered day-to-day. Marc Staal was also out with a lower-body injury.
  • Jesper Fast has been shut down for the rest of the season due to an upper-body injury.
  • The Rangers entered their tilt against the Penguins as the youngest team in the NHL with an average age of 23.9 – it will be a similar story tonight.
  • Fredrik Claesson was back in the line-up on Monday after plenty of time as a healthy scratch. He contributed seven shots and three hits on the night.
  • Connor Brickley was a healthy scratch on Monday.
  • Mika Zibanejad is the team leader for the Rangers in goals (28), assists (40) and points (68) – it has been quite the year for the forward on a personal level.

About the Bruins

  • The Boston Bruins are 46-21-9 this year.
  • They are 6-4-0 in their last ten games and are averaging 3.09 goals per game.
  • The B’s are 28-7-3 at TD Garden this season.
  • Boston have been lethal on the power play in 2018-19, ranking third in the NHL with 26.1 percent.
  • The Bruins announced on Tuesday that they had signed Paul Carey to a two-year, two-way extension with an annual NHL cap hit of $700,000. The forward had 14 points (seven goals, seven assists) in 60 games for the Rangers in 2017-18.
  • One reason the Bruins have been slumping is injuries.  Sean Kuraly, who has eight goals and 13 assists for 21 points this year, is out for the rest of the regular season with a hand injury. Torey Krug is out with a concussion and Marcus Johansson and John Moore are both questionable for tonight’s game.  It looks like Matt Grzelcyk and Kevan Miller are both definitely out.
  • Tuukka Rask made 23 saves for the Bruins in the 5-4 defeat to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday – it is not yet clear whether he or Jaroslav Halak will get the start tonight.
  • Both netminders have been impressive for Boston this year. Rask has a goals against average of 2.42 and a save percentage of .915 in 43 games.
  • Halak, meanwhile, in 37 games played has a 2.31 goals against average and a .924 save percentage.
  • Brad Marchand is the team leader for Boston this season with 94 points. He has established career highs in assists (60), power play goals (10), power play points (31) and points this year.

Head-to-Head

  • Tonight’s game will be the third and final meeting between the two teams this year.
  • The last tilt between these two came back at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 6, resulting in an entertaining 4-3 shootout win for the Rangers.
  • Tony DeAngelo scored the winning goal in the shootout for the Blueshirts.
  • New York also came out on top at TD Garden in January 2019, Mika Zibanejad having two goals in a 3-2 success.
  • Boston’s top line of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak has seven points in two games against the Rangers this year.
  • The Rangers are one of only three teams that the Bruins haven’t beaten this season (along with Winnipeg and Vancouver).

Next. Low risk trade targets. dark

Game Information

  • Face-off is at 7:30 pm ET.
  • The game will be televised nationally on NBCSN and on radio on ESPN 98.7.
  • The Rangers have played 12 times this season on national television with a record of 3-6-3.
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