Game 45: Boston Bruins @ New York Rangers Lines, Preview

Here’s your Boston Hockey Now Boston Bruins Game Day Preview:

Boston Bruins (35-5-4, 74 pts) vs New York Rangers (25-13-7, 57 pts)

TIME: 7 P.M. ET

TV: NESN, MSG Network

Radio: 98.5 The Sports Hub

Boston Bruins Notes

-The Boston Bruins are back on a winning streak. After suffering their first home regulation loss in a 3-0 loss to the Seattle Kraken last Thursday, the Bruins have now won three straight games. They beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3 on Saturday night, and then walloped the Philadelphia Flyers 6-0 on Monday afternoon before outlasting the Islanders to a 4-1 win on Wednesday night at UBS Arena.

–Linus Ullmark lodged his 100^th career win while stopping 26-of-27 shots against the Islanders, and credited his teammates with keeping on track during a breakout All-Star season.

“We have a lot of guys on this team that have been around this league a long time and they know that you can’t get satisfied,” said Ullmark. “There are such small details that can make something crumble. [Brad Marchand] is one of those guys and he’s always honest with me if he feels like I’m taking a day off. He’s right there up my [expletive] and tells me to get going.”

-Patrice Bergeron was forced to exit Wednesday night’s game briefly after catching a deflected David Pastrnak blast directly off the nose. The 37-year-old center returned after a brief time off the ice and finished out the game. Boston Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said it would be up to Bergeron as to whether he would play or not and was hoping that X-rays were going to come back okay following the win.

-Expect Jeremy Swayman to get the starting nod in the second game of back-to-back contests in New York while coming off a 29-save shutout win in Monday afternoon’s 6-0 drubbing of the Flyers at TD Garden.

New York Rangers Notes

*The Rangers have won seven of their last nine games at Madison Square Garden and three of their last four games overall, including a 3-1 win over the Blue Jackets on Monday night where Barclay Goodrow and Kaapo Kakko had multi-point efforts and Jaroslav Halak earned the ‘W.’

*The New York Rangers defensemen corps is really picking up the slack lately as Adam Fox leads all Rangers players with 10 points in eight games during the month of January, and K’Andre Miller is second on the Blueshirts with three goals and nine points in eight games.

*With Jaroslav Halak the starter in Monday night’s Rangers win, the expectation is that Igor Shesterkin will be in net for the Rangers against the Boston Bruins on Thursday night.

Boston Bruins Lineup:

Forwards

Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Craig Smith

Pavel Zacha-David Krejci-David Pastrnak

Taylor Hall-Charlie Coyle-Trent Frederic

Nick Foligno-Joona Koppanen-AJ Greer

Defense:

Matt Grzelcyk-Charlie McAvoy

Hampus Lindholm-Brandon Carlo

Derek Forbort-Connor Clifton

Goalies:

Jeremy Swayman

Linus Ullmark

New York Rangers Lineup:

Forwards

Alexis Lafreniere-Mika Zibanejad-Kaapo Kakko

Artemi Panarin-Vincent Trocheck-Jimmy Vesey

Vitali Kravstov-Filip Chytil-Barclay Goodrow

Sammy Blais-Jake Leschyschyn-Johnny Brodzinski

Defense

Ryan Lindgren-Adam Fox

K’Andre Miller-Jacob Trouba

Ben Harpur-Braden Schneider

Goalies

Igor Shesterkin

Jaroslav Halak