The Rangers continue their homestand against the Boston Bruins. The Bruins are very good, as per usual. However they are not the same Bruins they used to be. As Rob pointed out, they aren’t really good at generating offense, but they are still tops in the league at expected-goals against. The top line is still ridiculously dangerous, but they are fine winning 1-0 too.
As for the Rangers, they continue to struggle, and will continue to be inconsistent as long as Mika Zibanejad is struggling. It’s safe to assume there are lingering COVID effects here. Without him, Ryan Strome is the Rangers best center. While he’s been serviceable, you don’t want him to be your best center. It just screams lack of depth. On the bright side, all of the wingers look very good. Just need to get the rest of the team going.
Bruins Lines
Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-David Pastrnak
Nick Ritchie-David Krejci-Craig Smith
Jake Debrusk-Charlie Coyle-Anders Bjork
Trent Frederic-Sean Kuraly-Chris Wagner
Jeremy Lauzon-Charlie McAvoy
Matt Grzelcyk-Brandon Carlo
Jakub Zboril-Kevan Miller
PP1: Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak-Ritchie-Krejci
PP2: Debrusk-Coyle-Smith-Grzelcyk-McAvoy
Tuukka Rask gets the start
Rangers Lines
Alexis Lafreniere-Mika Zibanejad-Pavel Buchnevich
Artemi Panarin–Ryan Strome–Kaapo Kakko
Chris Kreider–Brett Howden–Phil Di Giuseppe
Brendan Lemieux–Kevin Rooney-Julien Gauthier
K’Andre Miller–Jacob Trouba
Ryan Lindgren–Adam Fox
Libor Hajek–Anthony Bitetto
PP1: Panarin-Zibanejad-Buchnevich-Lafreniere-Fox
PP2: Strome-Kreider-Kakko-Miller-Trouba
PK Forwards: Kreider, Strome, Howden, Zibanejad
PK Defense: Trouba, Smith, Lindgren, Fox
Alex Georgiev gets the start.
Scratches/Injuries: Filip Chytil (upper body), Jack Johnson (lower body), Colin Blackwell (upper body), Brendan Smith (upper body)
Crazy Prediction: No one calls for David Quinn to be fired during the game.
Game time is 7pm.
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