Boston Bruins

Bruins at Rangers Preview: Lines, Notes & How To Watch

Published

2 weeks ago

January 2, 2025

The Boston Bruins (20-15-4) meet the New York Rangers (16-19-1) in Midtown Manhattan tonight in a matchup at Madison Square Garden. Here’s what you need to know before puck drop.

Out of Confidence, Out of Ideas:

The Bruins have struggled on the power play all year.

From changes to their strategy and to their personnel, they’ve tried all sorts of different ideas, hoping to find a spark of any kind on the man advantage. But so far, none have worked.

The issues on the power play have severely lowered the Bruins’ confidence, and now, they’re running out of ideas for how to fix it.

Projected Bruins Lines:

Geekie – Zacha – Pastrnak

Marchand – E. Lindholm – Coyle

Koepke – Frederic – Brazeau

Beecher – Kastelic – Wahlstrom

Zadorov – McAvoy

Wotherspoon – Carlo

Lohrei – Peeke

Swayman

Korpisalo

Last Time Out:

Not for a lack of trying, the Bruins generated little offense in a 3-1 loss to the Washington Capitals on Tuesday.

Justin Brazeu put the Bruins on the board first, but they couldn’t build on the early lead.

They doubled Washington in scoring chances, but of the combined 84 shots the Bruins attempted, only 27 threatened Capitals goalie Logan Thompson. Washington completely took away the center of the ice, fearlessly clogging any and all shooting lanes the Boston had and blocked 28 shots.

The Opponent:

There is no better time for the Bruins to run into the New York Rangers than right now.

New York has been in a downward spiral since the middle of November, and things only seem to be getting worse with each passing game.

The Rangers are 2-8-0 in their last 10 games and have plummeted to the bottom of the Metropolitan Division standings. Their loss to the Florida Panthers on Monday was their fourth in a row.

The startling downfall of the Rangers is almost inexplicable after they won the President’s Trophy last season. Their troubles seem to date back to when GM Chris Drury released a memo publicly stating he was looking to trade core members of the roster in Chris Kreider and Jacob Trouba.

But even after Drury shipped Trouba to Anaheim, the Rangers’ issues have persisted.

With just 13 points and 12 goals, Kreider is just one of several top contributors who are underperforming this season. As are Mika Zibanejad, Alexis Lafrenière, and Vincent Trocheck. To make matters worse, the team recently placed star goalie Igor Shesterkin on injured reserve with an upper-body injury.

Instead, Jonathan Quick will start tonight for New York. With a record of 5-4-0, he posts a 2.69 GAA and a .907 save percentage.

The Rangers rank 23rd in the league on the power play (18%) and second on the penalty kill (84.8%).

For more coverage of the Rangers, Check Out Forever Blue Shirts.

How To Watch:

Puck drop between the Bruins and Rangers is slated for 7 p.m. EST at Madison Square Garden. The game can be seen on NESN and streamed on NESN 360 or ESPN Plus for out-of-market viewers. 98.5 The Sports Hub will carry the radio broadcast of the game.