After dispatching the Flyers in convincing fashion, at least when it came to special teams, the Rangers are off to Boston for what used to be their Black Friday tradition. The Bruins have a worse roster than last year, far worse, and yet they are off to another ridiculous start. At 14-2-3, they are just two points ahead of the Rangers with one extra game played. On paper, they shouldn’t be that good, yet they are.
The Bruins are a tremendous system team that takes advantage of their chances. They are solid on special teams and have perhaps the best tandem starter combination in Jeremy Swayman and Linus Ullmark. We can try to figure out how they are doing it again despite losing half their top-six, or we can just acknowledge they are a good team. Which they are.
Still, even with the injuries, the Rangers are better on paper. The Blueshirts are transitioning to a systems team with elite talent. The Bruins have elite talent too, just not as much as the Blueshirts. This is as much of a coin flip game as you can get right now.
Rangers Lines
Chris Kreider-Mika Zibanejad-Blake Wheeler
Artemi Panarin-Vincent Trocheck-Alexis Lafreniere
Will Cuylle-Nick Bonino-Kaapo Kakko
Jimmy Vesey-Barclay Goodrow-Tyler Pitlick
Erik Gustafsson-Ryan Lindgren
K’Andre Miller-Jacob Trouba
Zac Jones-Braden Schneider
Igor Shesterkin gets the start.
Bruins Lines
Brad Marchand-Pavel Zacha-David Pastrnak
James van Riemsdyk-Charlie Coyle-Trent Frederic
Jake Debrusk-Matthew Poitras-Morgan Geekie
Danton Heinan-John Beecher-Jakub Lauko
Mason Lohrei-Charlie McAvoy
Hampus Lindholm-Brandon Carlo
Derek Forbort-Kevin Shattenkirk
Linus Ullmark gets the start.
Injuries: Adam Fox (knee), Filip Chytil (concussion)
Crazy Prediction: K’Andre Miller with a 3 point day.
Game time is 1pm.
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