The snow may have buried them, but if you could hear anything in the City of Boston in regards to the Boston Bruins, it’d be crickets. The Boston Bruins have played just three games since Jan. 21, and tonight’s showdown with the New York Rangers will be just the Bruins’ fourth game in the last 14 days.
But here’s when the B’s marathon turns to a sprint.
Beginning with tonight’s contest at Madison Square Garden, the Bruins will play 10 games in the next 20 days, including a five-game road swing that stops in Western Canada and finishes up in St. Louis and then Chicago. If you count a heavy 15-game month of March, the Bruins will play 27 games in the next 54 days. The competition for a Black and Gold squad holding a seven-point edge on the second wild card spot, will be aplenty, too.
And that begins against a Blueshirts squad that’s won an impressive 16 of 26 at the Garden.
By now, the Rangers’ near-meteoric rise back to contention in the East (though, I suppose that’s not saying much this season) is known. The Rangers have posted an 18-7-0 record since the start of December, while Rick Nash (a league-leading 31 goals) is on pace for the first 50-goal season of his career.
The Bruins roll into New York City with a hot streak of their own, too, with two straight victories -- an impressive road win over the New York Islanders and one against the reigning champion Los Angeles Kings a few nights later -- and a nine-game point-streak against the Rangers.
This will be the B’s only trip to Manhattan in 2015.
Tell me if you’ve heard this before-- Boston gives the start to Tuukka Rask. The 27-year-old has started 40 of Boston’s 50 games this season, and will make his ninth straight start in this one. The workload isn’t much of a shock given how well the defending Vezina played in January, with seven wins and a .949 save percentage in 11 games, and comes against a squad that Rask has found considerable success against throughout his NHL career. In 13 career games against the Rangers, Rask has seven wins and a .937 save percentage. He stopped all 30 Ranger shots thrown his way in his last appearance against the club.
With Henrik Lundqvist dealing with an upper-body injury, the Rangers give the nod to Cam Talbot. The 6-foot-3 Talbot has a 4-4-1 record in 2014-15, and will be making his first start since Jan. 15 against the Bruins, where he stopped 29-of-32 in a losing effort at TD Garden. Talbot has been sensational in a small Garden sample size, too, with two wins and a .972 save percentage in three home starts this year.
- Boston winger Brad Marchand has four goals in his last five games.
- Dougie Hamilton has one goal and five points in seven career games against New York.
- Just two of Milan Lucic’s 10 goals in 2014-15 have come on the road.
- New York's Derek Stepan has eight points in his last nine games played.
Other news and notes
Milan Lucic (flu) seems like a go, and Loui Eriksson (neck) appears good to go, too. Jordan Caron and Matt Bartkowski will serve as the healthy scratches.
With Lundqvist out, Mackenzie Skapski will serve as NY's backup. Amazing name.
I still don't know if I'd call this a rivalry.