As unconfirmed reports lined the Ottawa Senators up against the Winnipeg Jets for their season opener, and confirmed reports that CBC’s first “Hockey Night In Canada” will feature the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens live from the Bell Centre, the Northeast stars seemed to align perfectly for a Buffalo Sabres and Boston Bruins duel at the TD Garden.
Or First Niagara Center, for that matter.
Or perhaps a steel cage would’ve been more appropriate.
Either way, the natural assumption was wrong, and the Bruins are going to open their 48-game 2013 marathon run on Jan. 19 at home against the New York Rangers.
Rekindling the Boston-New York rivalry that’s been dominated by the Rangers’
Henrik Lundqvist, who’s won 19 of 27 meetings against Boston in his career, recording six shutouts and allowing just 42 goals over that stretch, the meeting comes with an extra bit of fire with the Ranger debut of longtime Bruins trade-target,
Rick Nash.
The once embattled Columbus captain, who likely would’ve found himself in Boston if not for the Jackets’ rumored asking price of both
Dougie Hamilton and the club’s leading scorer from last year,
Tyler Seguin, finds himself in the bright lights of New York City, and will be 100 percent ‘ready to go’ per New York coach
John Tortorella.
On the flipside, Boston’s chance to end the nightmare known as match-ups against the New York Rangers, a team they haven’t beat in Boston since Mar. 21, 2010, comes with a great chance, as the
Tuukka Rask era officially begins with a glimmer of hope given the 25-year-old’s .939 career save-percentage in six games against New York.
Last year the Bruins went 1-2-1 against New York, and have beaten them in just five of their 16 meetings since the start of the 2008-09 season.
While it's no Sabres vs. Bruins battle, this is a definite marquee game for Bruins fans in search of something to get the blood flowing to begin the year. The Rangers, beyond a physical game and cabinet armed with noted tanglers such as
Mike Rupp and now
Arron Asham, have always brought those dreaded New Yorkers up into the Boston bars and Garden seats, so expect a real rowdy crowd.
I'd also expect this game to come as the NBC Sports Network nightcap of a day of hockey that will begin with the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers squaring off on NBC at 3 p.m. In regards to the rest of the schedule, the details are a bit hazy but like I said last night, I’ve been told to expect the Martin Luther King Jr. Day matinee on Jan. 21 against the Toronto Maple Leafs to remain intact.
The rest of the schedule is sure to follow by week’s end, we believe.
Follow me on Twitter, shoot me an email at [email protected], or become Facebook friends with the HockeyBuzz Bruins profile for links, interactions, and updates.
*********
KINDLE USERS: Please subscribe to Bruins Buzz; a one-stop feed for all things Bruins related on HockeyBuzz. For more information,
click here.
Boston Bruins Blogger •Bruins Feature Columnist • 
Join the Discussion:
»