New York Rangers hoping to halt red hot Boston Bruins

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BOSTON, MA – MARCH 27: Boston Bruins left defenseman Torey Krug (47) stops New York Rangers center Brett Howden (21) during a game between the Boston Bruins and the New York Rangers on March 27, 2019, at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

Tonight will be a real litmus test for the New York Rangers who will host an elite Boston Bruins team already in midseason form.

Following their superb 6-2 win against the Buffalo Sabres at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night, the New York Rangers will be looking to start building some momentum and go on a run with just two games of the five-game home stand remaining.

It was a complete team effort from the Blueshirts in the success over the Sabres, and they finally got contributions from up and down the lineup.

Ryan Strome benefitted hugely from having Artemi Panarin and Pavel Buchnevich on his line after posting a two-goal night, while third line center Brett Howden also recorded a two-point night.

Breaking up Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad seemed to have sparked this Rangers roster into life, and the task now will be to build on Thursday night’s success and start getting a sustained run of wins under their belt.

Tony DeAngelo tallied a goal and an assist and the defenseman has really broken out offensively to start the year, registering four goals and two assists for six points in eight games.

Tonight will be a huge test though against one of the best teams in the NHL, who will be looking to go one further after losing in the Stanley Cup Final to the St. Louis Blues last year.

BOSTON, MA – OCTOBER 26: Boston Bruins left defenseman Torey Krug (47) and Boston Bruins left wing Brad Marchand (63) congratulate Boston Bruins right wing David Pastrnak (88) during a game between the Boston Bruins and the St. Louis Blues on October 26, 2019, at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

About The Bruins

What Stanley Cup Final hangover? The Boston Bruins have entered 2019-20 with an almighty chip on their shoulder and it is fair to say that they have closed the book on last year’s painful loss to the St. Louis Blues.

The Bruins have been lights out through the first few weeks of the regular season and are currently 7-1-2 on the year.

They have beaten the likes of the Dallas Stars, the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Vegas Golden Knights, while they got some small measure of revenge on the Blues after shutting them out in a 3-0 win on Saturday night.

David Pastrnak leads the way for Boston with 11 goals and seven assists for 18 points in just 10 games, and the forward is rapidly morphing into one of the five elite wings currently in the NHL. He has scored nine goals in his last five games and is on a five-game goal scoring streak.

It is no surprise that Brad Marchand has also been on an absolute tear to start the year with 15 points (five goals, 10 assists), while Patrice Bergeron has two goals and six assists for eight points as that formidable top line continues to dominate the NHL.

Boston also boast one of the best goaltending tandems in the league in Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak.

Rask leads the NHL in Save Percentage with .952, while Halak is ranked No. 5 in the NHL in the same category with a percentage of .931.

The Bruins have a red hot power play which is ranked third in the NHL (31.3), while they are ranked at No. 5 on the penalty kill (86.2).

They also lead the league in Goals Against Per Game with 1.90, so they will be extremely hard to score upon and won’t give up too many High-Danger chances.

Boston boast depth throughout their lineup and they can get scoring from all four lines, which was hammered home on Saturday when high-end prospect Anders Bjork scored his first goal of the year in his season debut against the St. Louis Blues.

Tuukka Rask got the start in net against the St. Louis Blues last night which means that Jaroslav Halak should be good to go tonight at The Garden.

Blue Line Station did an extensive preview of the Boston Bruins heading into 2019-20 and you can check that out here.

NEW YORK, NY – OCTOBER 24: View of Rangers bench during the Buffalo Sabres and New York Rangers NHL game on October 24, 2019, at Madison Square Garden in New York, NY. (Photo by John Crouch/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

About The Rangers

Life is good for the New York Rangers at the moment following their 6-2 win against the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday, with the Sabres going into that game at MSG sitting on top of the NHL.

However, there is still a lot of work to be done and this extremely youthful Blueshirts roster will be tested to the absolute max against the Boston Bruins tonight.

It is the first of two huge match-ups to finish this five-game homestand with the Tampa Bay Lightning set to visit Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night.

But, back to tonight and the Rangers are going to have to get the same team effort they had against Buffalo if they are to emerge with the W.

Shuffling up the lines seemed to work on Thursday and there isn’t likely to be much change to the lineup tonight.

Henrik Lundqvist will get the start in goal tonight while Kaapo Kakko will start the night on the third line after a tough time on the top line against the Sabres.

Jesper Fast will be promoted to the top line alongside Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad again, but it appears that it will only be a matter of time until Kakko is back on that first line.

And Head Coach David Quinn also confirmed that Tony DeAngelo will quarterback the top power play unit after an impressive start to the year, with the defenseman currently ranked third in points on the team with six (four goals, two assists).

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