Back-to-back nights are fun, right?
Just the facts
When: Tonight, 7:00 PM
Where: TD Garden — Boston, Mass.
How to follow: NESN, 98.5 FM
Opposing perspective: Blueshirt Banter
Know your enemy
- 20-7-1, 41PTS, 1st in Metropolitan Division
- Artemi Panarin: 16G-25A-41PTS; Mika Zibanejad: 9G-16A-25PTS; Vincent Trocheck: 6G-19A-25PTS
- Igor Shesterkin: 10-7-0, 3.02 GAA, .902 save percentage; Jonathan Quick: 9-0-1, 2.09 GAA, .926 save percentage
Game notes
- It’s a nice quick turnaround as the Boston Bruins are back on the ice to face the New York Rangers after playing last night.
- The two will meet for the second time this season. It wasn’t so pretty the last time the Bruins played the Rangers though.
- Both teams are heading into tonight’s game coming off wins. The B’s topped the New York Islanders, 5-4, in a shootout on Friday, tying the game three times to eventually push the game into overtime and then a shootout.
- The Rangers are also coming off a back-to-back. They won last night against the Anaheim Ducks, 5-1. The Rangers are 2-3-0 in their last five games which have seen them either greatly win or lose by three of more goals. Four of those games were decided by four goal differentials — and only one of which they won in that spread.
- The Bruins last saw the Rangers on Nov. 25 when they were handed a 7-4 loss. Chris Krieder had a big night against the Bruins in that last meeting, scoring both a power play and shorthanded goal in the game’s first period. Despite the Bruins coming back twice to tie the game, they lost steam in the second, falling behind by two goals which they couldn’t recover from in the third.
- With his points last night, Morgan Geekie is now on a three-game point streak. The center has found some boost production up on the top lines with Pavel Zacha out of the lineup right now.
- As Linus Ullmark got the start last night, the rotation and back-to-back should see Jeremy Swayman between the pipes.
- The B’s will find themselves up against one of the best power plays in the NHL. The Rangers are at 30.7%. The Bruins are slowly catching up and getting back on track with theirs which is at 25.3% and coming off multiple man-advantage goals last night.
- Matt Poitras was out last night, as scheduled, as the team has been managing his time, Jim Montgomery said. I’ll go out on a limb and say he’s likely be back in tonight.
- See ya tonight!