Preseason Game 3: Rangers at Bruins

Photo by Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images

The Rangers are in Boston tonight to take on the Bruins in their third preseason game of the season. The Rangers have also announced that cuts will come after this game, and the roster will be trimmed to 18 forwards and 10 or 11 defensemen. Just because a player is in the lineup tonight doesn’t mean he is safe from the cuts. There are at least three players that will likely get the ax tonight.

But before that happens, there is a game to play. The Bruins had a weird offseason. I really don’t know how else to summarize it. Don Sweeney is either a genius or a fool, and there’s really no middle ground here.

What have they done lately?

The Bruins are a weird, weird team. They have skill, they have solid goaltending, and they have one of the best players in the game in Patrice Bergeron. But aside from that, they have very little else. Their defense and depth are questionable at best. Even odder is that after a summer of no cap space, they have $8 million in cap space as of today. I don’t get it.

Bruins Systems

The Bruins have had the same style of play for years under Claude Julien. They play an aggressive 2-1-2 forecheck early in the period and then switch to a more conservative 1-4 or 1-1-3 lock later in the period if they have a lead. In the defensive zone, the Bs play a low zone collapse and try to defend you in layers depending on puck location. On special teams, the Bruins use an umbrella power play and a wedge+1/diamond force penalty kill where they try to pressure for turnovers.

Bruins Lines

Forwards: Patrice Bergeron, Brett Connolly, Austin Czarnik, Loui Eriksson, Jimmy Hayes, Joonas Kemppainen, Brad Marchand, Tyler Randell, Zac Rinaldo, Ryan Spooner, Max Talbot, Frank Vatrano

Defensemen: Brandon Carlo, Zdeno Chara, Matt Irwin, Adam McQuaid, Colin Miller, Joe Morrow

Goalies: Jeremy Smith, Zane McIntyre

Rangers Lines

Rick Nash–Derick Brassard–Mats Zuccarello
Brian Gibbons–Kevin Hayes–Emerson Etem
Tanner Glass–Jarret Stoll–Oscar Lindberg
Marek Hrivik–Adam Tambellini–Ryan Bourque