Game Day Preview: Bruins at Rangers
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The Boston Bruins 3,001st win was delayed Saturday night as they fell victims to the Ottawa Senators in overtime, 2-1.
The Black and Gold got another reinforcement back as Brad Marchand was inserted into the lineup after serving his three-game suspension a day after David Pastrnak was welcomed back with open arms.
Marchand’s presence wasn’t enough as Mark Stone scored his 11th goal of the season in an up-tempo overtime lifting the Sens to victory. Tuukka Rask stopped 38 of 40 shots in the losing effort while Craig Anderson stopped 33 of 34 shots by Boston.
Claude Julien and company are currently 1-0-1 on their five-game road trip as they will take on the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden Monday night. The Black and Gold stole a game back on November 27th at TD Garden 4-3 when Ryan Spooner and David Krejci scored two goals late in the third to secure the win on “Black Friday”.
Gametime: 7:00 PM
TV/Radio: NESN, 98.5 The Sports Hub
Records: Bruins 21-14-5 (47 points), Rangers 22-14-5 (49 points)
Location: Madison Square Garden
Bruins projected lines
Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Loui Eriksson
Matt Beleskey-Ryan Spooner-David Pastrnak
Frank Vatrano-Joonas Kemppainen-Brett Connolly
Zac Rinaldo-Landon Ferraro-Jimmy Hayes
Zdeno Chara-Zach Trotman
Dennis Seidenberg-Colin Miller
Torey Krug-Kevan Miller
Tuukka Rask
Jonas Gustavsson
Rangers projected lines
J.T. Miller-Derick Brassard-Mats Zuccarello
Rick Nash-Derek Stepan-Jayson Megna
Chris Kreider-Kevin Hayes-Jesper Fast
Tanner Glass-Dominic Moore-Viktor Stalberg
Ryan McDonagh-Kevin Klein
Marc Staal-Dan Boyle
Keith Yandle-Dan Girardi
Henrik Lundqvist
Anti Raanta
Matchup to watch: Brad Marchand vs. Henrik Lundqvist
After their only meeting of the season, Lundqvist and Marchand were barking back and forth after the game about a play where Marchand may have collided with Lundqvist before a Bruins’ goal while the Rangers goaltender embellished a little bit.
Marchand has been one of the B’s most consistent offensive players and would love to pot a goal versus Lundqvist. On the other hand, “King Henrik” will do everything in his power to keep Marchand off the scoresheet and out of the crease for that matter.
It seems like a non-story, but these two guys clearly don’t like each other and this game couldn’t be any bigger for either team as the standings in the East remain tight.
Storyline to watch: Hayes Brothers square off again
It will be for the second time this year that brothers Jimmy and Kevin square off – Jimmy getting the better of Kevin in the first match up. Playing against each other intensifies the rivalry between the Bruins and the Rangers, especially for these two brothers from Dorchester.
Jimmy has appeared in 38 games for the Black and Gold this season scoring nine goals while adding 11 assists. While his points seem to come in two or three games bunches, the elder Hayes brother is hoping for a little more consistency in the scoring department. Kevin has appeared in 39 games scoring seven goals and assisting on 12 others while sporting a plus-3 rating.
In Jimmy’s last five games, he has lit the lamp four times while his brother Kevin has just one goal in that same span.
Which Hayes brother will have a bigger impact Monday night? Stay tuned.