Bruins/Rangers Regular Season Finale

This will be the 11th game for the Boston Bruins this season, but it’s the third and final meeting against the New York Rangers. The past two games have had the home team taking the dub, and tonight the Rangers will be making the trip to Boston.

Both teams have been early favored to make it to the playoffs but so far it’s been the B’s that have been playing like it. The B’s have lived up to the hype with only two losses in 10 games- one being in regulation. New York, on the other hand, is off to a 6-5 start. The teams won’t see each other again unless they happen to find themselves in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Will Brad Marchand continue to lead the B’s in scoring? (Credit: Flickr/ Slidingsideways)

Can the Bruins be beat?
Well judging by their stats thus far, the answer would be no.  However one of the losses this season was from the Rangers in overtime so they can’t be counted out. The Bruins right now have two hot goaltenders (Tuukka Rask and Anton Khudobin) and are getting ready for a February roadie. 8 out of 10 games this month will be on the road for Boston with a  five-gave trip starting Friday. However tonight they play at home and as we know that’s typically a good thing for the Bruins.

Three in a row for the Rangers?
The Rangers are coming off of wins against the Tampa Bay Lightning and the New York Islanders and are looking to make Boston their next victim. As of right now this is the first time the team is over a .500 win record. Their problem was the reliance on the big three of the team aka Marian Gaborik, Brad Richards, and Rick Nash. However, 10 of their last 13 goals have been scored by other players on the team.

Who’s hot?
Brad Marchand leads the Bruins in goals with 6 and scored on Sunday against Buffalo after coming back from an injury. Though the B’s power play is anything but “hot” typically, Patrice Bergeron managed to score Boston’s 2nd PP goal of the season Sunday. For the Ranger, obviously their hottest player (literally and figuratively) is goalie Henrik Lundqvist. In his last two starts, Lundqvist has only allowed a single goal in each. Also, Carl Hagelin was huge for NY against the Lightning on Sunday notting two goals, and adding an assist.

Tonight the game will be aired on NESN and the puck will drop at 7:30!

For the Rangers side of things, check out Black and Blueshirts.

 

Bruins Beat in the Big Apple

Dougie Hamilton got his first NHL point tonight! (Credit:flickr/Steph Vail)

Saturday it was Rangers at Bruins; tonight it was Bruins at Rangers for the teams second of three meetings this season. Last game as we know went wonderfully for Boston. Tonight the Rangers were seeking one thing…REVENGE!  And sure enough they did, but it took a lot of effort. Both teams played hard and deserved to win and very rarely will I say that about anytime facing my Bruins. Tuukka Rask was in net for the third start in a row facing off against Henrik Lundqvist.

Here’s what went down in the Big Apple:

Bruins Look to Take the Rangers on Broadway

Bruins after scoring a goal in the black and gold scrimmage (Photo Credit:Steph Phillips)

Tonight the Bruins are looking to take their third straight win of the season as they face off against the New York Rangers for the second time in the past week.  The two teams met up on Saturday, for the Bruins home opener with Boston surging to a 3-1 victory over the Rangers with goals from Milan Lucic, Gregory Campbell and Johnny Boychuk.

The Bruins are currently 2-0 on the season with a picture perfect penalty kill unit, going 9/9 thus far.  They are hoping to keep their record perfect against the Rangers and take the second game of the series after dominating them the full sixty minutes on Saturday in what was historically, the Bruins best game against goaltender Henrik Lundqvist.

Offensive forward Shawn Thornton found a dance partner in Mike Rupp in the last meeting between these original six teams and reminded Rupp what fighting in Boston is all about, leaving him a bloody mess.  While the possibility remains for a re-match between these two heavy hitters, it is also likely that Arron Asham will make his presence known after returning from a suspension from last season on Sunday, though he is questionable for today’s game so we will have to see.

Rangers In a Rut:

They were deemed the “best team in the Eastern Conference” in the first meeting against Boston this season, but were silenced quickly as they dropped the season opener 3-1, along with their home opener against Pittsburgh.  The Rangers are hungry for victory but are struggling to find a way to come out on top, despite having acquired top free agent Rick Nash.  Nash was able to beat Pittsburgh’s Vokoun for his first goal of the season and as a Ranger, but was fairly quiet against the Bruins.

Bruins Bests:

• Johnny Boychuk appeared in his 200th NHL game on Monday against the Winnipeg Jets and was able to score against the Rangers in Saturday’s home opener.
• Milan Lucic has 1 goal on just 4 shots on net and leads the team with 14 hits, silencing all of the critics prior to the start of the season.
• The Bruins PK unit is flawless going 9/9 on the season.
• Patrice Bergeron leads with 10 shots on goal, Seguin with 6 and in third is a tie between Dougie Hamilton, Zdeno Chara and Nathan Horton.

Puck drop is at 7:30pm and can be seen on NBCSN or heard on 98.5 the Sports Hub. For a different poinjt of view on tonight’s game, be sure to visit Black and Blueshirts.

Bruins Beast the Rangers

It was Tuukka time in Boston tonight! (Credit: Steph Phillips)

Tonight your Boston Bruins took to the ice for the home opener of the 2012-2013 season against the New York Rangers and it was everything you could hope for in a home opener and so much more.

The B’s for the most part stuck to a similar lineup as last season but tonight brought the debut of Boston native/ Ray Bourque’s pride and joy Chris Bourque. Tonight was also the first time that the B’s first round draft pick of 2011 Dougie Hamilton would play in the NHL. Tuukka Rask is now the starting goalie for the Bruins and he faced off against Henrik Lundqvist, a man who doesn’t exactly let up against the Bruins or against any team in general.

Tonight was an exception as the Bruins beat the Rangers 3-1.

Let me break down the game by period for you.

Bruins Are Back Ready to Take on the Rangers

The ice is ready for some Bruins hockey. (Photo Credit: Steph Phillips)

Tonight is the night that fans have waited for since the end of May last year, the night that the 2013 Boston Bruins season will officially commence.  While many teams spent their off-season signing big name players like Minnesota and Carolina, the Bruins held true to their Cup team and kept their core together.

The Bruins are opening up against an original six team the New York Rangers, a team that beat the Bruins in three of the four meetings last season.  During the off-season New York signed heavy hitter Arron Asham to a contract to give them some more body to throw around.  They also traded to receive high end Columbus Blue Jacket Rick Nash, a player whom a lot of people expected Boston to throw money at.  

Key Points

• The Bruins main focus tonight is going to be much of the same as last season, they need to remain focused and play a full sixty minutes of hockey.  Star forwards like Seguin and Bergeron who played overseas have to stray away from the fancy stick skills that are encouraged over in Europe and focus more on setting up the play and crashing the net for rebounds.
• Tuukka Rask has a lot to prove to the city of Boston, steeping in as the full-time goaltender with a sour taste in many fans mouths after Tim Thomas took the year off and despite the Black and Gold scrimmage being a ‘glorified practice,’ letting the ‘little brother’ team take home a win.  He has to remain confident in himself and relaxed and should redeem himself just fine with the Boston crowd.
• Dougie Hamilton will be sporting the #27 jersey that Mike Mottau donned last season for a short time, rather than the #53 jersey he was seen in practices with.  He is expected to be paired up with Denis Seidenberg and will be making his Boston Bruins/NHL debut tonight.
• Chris Bourque will also be in the line up tonight as he has showed promise over the past week, scoring a goal and two assists in the Black and Gold scrimmage for Boston, proving he deserved to be on this team.  He will be donning the #48 jersey alongside Chris Kelly and Rich Peverley on the third line, should the lines from the scrimmage hold true.
• Like most teams in the NHL the Bruins are making big decisions in a small time frame. However, for Boston those decisions aren’t as demanding as some of their surrounding teams.  By keeping their core together and signing Seguin, Lucic, Kelly and Rask, there are only two roster spots open for Boston to fill. Their charisma and team dynamic should still flow together as we have seen in the past and should give Boston a leg up over other teams.

Projected Lines:

Brad Marchand – Patrice Bergeron – Tyler Seguin

Nathan Horton – David Krejci – Milan Lucic

Rich Peverley – Chris Kelly – Chris Bourque

Shawn Thornton – Gregory Campbell – Daniel Paille

Zdeno Chara – Johnny Boychuk

Dennis Seidenberg – Dougie Hamilton

Andrew Ference – Adam McQuaid

Tuukka Rask

Back-up: Anton Khudobin

 

The skates are sharpened, the helmets have been placed and the jerseys are ready, let’s get ready for some Bruins hockey.  The puck drops at 7:00pm and is being aired on the NHL Network.

REMEMBER: Don’t forget to print off your Jack Edwards Bingo Cards (located on our sidebar) for a chance to win a Hockey Trivia Book. Every time  you get ‘Bingo’ tweet us with the hashtag #JEBINGO and we’ll announce our winner at the end of the game to the person with the most. 

To see what the New York Rangers writer has to say about tonight’s match up, be sure to check out Black and Blueshirts.

Division Champs Rob the Rangers

Patrice Bergeron, the Saint who saved the Bruins (Photo Credit: Steph Phillips)

Tonight the Bruins took on the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden for the final time of the regular season. They went into tonight’s game knowing they needed the two-points to remain second seed for the playoffs and become Division Champions. It would be a battle between two of the best teams in the country with a performance that mirrored that of an Eastern Conference Final.

Throughout the first period it would appear as though the Bruins had no sense of offensive talent as they gave up an easy goal to Marion Gaborik early on off of a Chara blast. They needed to find their legs and come out of the locker room roaring and ready to go.

Watching the second period you would think you were witnessing an entirely different team on the ice as the tempo quickly increased as well as the physicality from both teams.  Just four minutes into the second Dennis Seidenberg would rip a shot from the blue line with Bergeron setting a screen in front to tie the game at one. It wouldn’t be until 10:32 of the second period that the first penalty of the game would be awarded to the Rangers, presenting the Bruins with a power play opportunity that Patrice Bergeron would capitalize on, putting the Bruins one up on the Rangers going into the third.

In order to maintain their lead, the Bruins needed to make sure they kept their composure and didn’t give into the physical game the Rangers were trying to rattle them with and that is exactly what they did. Despite starting the third shorthanded and quickly going down 5 on 3 through the first three minutes of play, they managed to hold off the Rangers and avoid a series sweep.

By winning tonight against the Rangers they clinched the NorthEast Division Championship, maintain their second place seed for the playoffs, presenting them with home ice advantage and get to go home to the Garden with two wins under their belt.

The next game is Tuesday night at the TD Garden against the Pittsburgh Penguins at 7pm EST.

 

 

Live Blogging: Bruins @ Rangers

Can the Bruins become Division Champions tonight? (Credit:Slidingsideways/Flickr)

Bruins are meeting up with the Rangers for the last time this regular season, looking for a win to claim the Division Championship and keep the Rangers from sweeping the series.

Scratches: Joe Corvo (healthy) Adam McQuaid(eye) Tuukka Rask(abdomen/groin) Nathan Horton(concussion) Gregory Campbell(healthy)

Goaltenders: Tim Thomas (2.8GAA .902sv %) Henrik Lundvquist (1.51GAA .948sv %)

Can the Bruins Rob the Rangers?

Chris Kelly and Tyler Seguin (Photo Credit: Steph Phillips)

Today the Bruins look to beat the New York Rangers to avoid a series sweep. Currently the Rangers have won five straight and nine of the last eleven games against Boston.  The last meeting between these two teams was at Madison Square Garden on March 4, where the Rangers took the Bruins in a 4-3 victory.

The fate of these two teams in the playoffs rides on the outcome of a few earlier games on the schedule today, as it usually does around this time of the season.  If the Pittsburgh Penguins lose to the Philadelphia Flyers, the Rangers secure the #1 spot in the East with a win today.

The Bruins could already be Division Champions by the drop of the puck today, should the Ottawa Senators lose to the New York Islanders in regulation today.  If the Senators do in fact win, the Bruins still have the opportunity to clinch the Division title with a win against the Rangers today.

With so much riding on the line, adding the fact that the defending Cup Champions are looking to avoid a series sweep and the Rangers are in the running for the Presidents’ trophy, today’s match up should prove to be entertaining.  It could easily provide a nice preview to say Eastern Conference Finals?

Today Bruins Tyler Seguin and Brad Marchand are competing against each other to be the team’s leading high scorers, while Chris Kelly is looking to improve his personal best 20 goals, something that hasn’t been achieved since in the AHL in 2004-2005 for the Binghamton Senators.

“I’ve never scored 20 in the NHL and a perfect example of a product of being on a good team. Everyone plays hard, everyone plays together and plays for one another.”-Chris Kelly (via Bruins News)

Currently the Bruins are playing some of the best hockey fans have seen since the November-December burst and with a victory meaning they clinch the Division, you can bet they are going to be bringing it all to the table today.

“We went through a lull there when we didn’t play with lots of energy, and we didn’t focus that well on our game plan so it made it hard for us to win hockey games,” Julien said. “But I think our guys are back on track now for probably a couple of weeks, and focusing more on what we need to do and push each other to do it well. And because of that, we’ve found our game again.”(via Bruins News)

Watch the Bruins take on the Rangers today at 7:00pm EST at Madision Square Garden and battle it out in what is sure to be one of the best games of the season.

You can watch the game on NBCSN or listen to it on 98.5 the Sports Hub.

 

 

Busted Up and Broken Down

MacDermid earns his spot as a Bruin today, fighting Mike Rupp on his first shift. (Photo Credit: Stephanie Vail)

The Bruins headed to Madison Square Garden this afternoon to take on the League-leading New York Rangers. They went into the game being down 0-2 in the series this season, with the Rangers beating them on January 21 and February 14.

The Bruins started off the first period sluggish and un-motivated allowing the Rangers to go up 2-0 in the opening minutes. They managed to regroup with a time out, but were still being careless with the puck, turning it over 50% of the time with two giveaways. Benoit Pouliot gave the Bruins some momentum to work with scoring a goal shortly after and Lucic helped with a matching battle against Brandon Prust as he demolished him, cracking him with the right to the head. Newcomer Lane MacDermid proved he belonged on his first shift as a Bruin challenging heavy hitter Mike Rupp to a fight and winning. The period ended with 2:53 left to go as Brian Rolston’s blast went high and busted a pane of glass.

To start off the second period (officially) Jordan Caron intercepted a pass from Rangers’ Girardi who got fooled by the Bruins line change, and snapped a shot past Lundvquist to tie the game giving him a goal and an assist in 26 minutes of playing. Caron has showed some good potential with the Bruins as of late and today showed he could arguably be a good fit on the Bergeron-Marchand line, if given the opportunity. The Rangers were only able to manage three shots on goal in the second period versus the Bruins ten, providing a strong second period effort by the struggling B’s.

Known as a third period team, Bruins fans expected to see the Bruins shine and come out with a victory going into it tied at two. Unfortunately, that standard would be shattered early on as a three-on-one was created giving Gaborik a shot on goal, which was saved, but they were able to capitalize on the rebound and go up 3-2. Brad Marchand would have seemingly two of the best of opportunities of the night, both which got past Lundvquist but somehow managed to bounce out of the goal and not cross the line. With eight minutes remaining in regulation Boychuk sent the puck up to Seguin who exploded through the middle to pass the puck to Lucic, who sent it over to Krejci for a beautiful finish to, once again, tie the game. As Bruins and their fans basked in the glory of Krejci tying the game, they were just as quickly deflated as Derek Stepan sailed one past Thomas and gave the Rangers their lead back with 7:39 remaining. Although the Bruins would get a power play in the final minutes of play and have some great chances with the man-advantage as they pulled goaltender Tim Thomas, they were unable to come up with the extra goal to send the game into Overtime and fell to the Rangers, yet again. As the buzzer sounded McDonaugh threw a cross-check at Lucic who would, in turn, nail him with not one, not two, but three, nice left hand jabs, ending the game.

While the Bruins wanted to break the sloppy second period habit and find consistency, the outcome wasn’t exactly what fans had hoped for. We can only hope come Tuesday as the Bruins take on the Toronto Maple Leafs they are able to come out int he first period with a bang and get the ball rolling.

 

Live Blogging: Bruins @ Rangers

Krejci and Seguin have both seem to come alive in the past two games, being placed on the same line together. (Photo Credit: Steph Phillips)

 

Boston Bruins are coming off of a 3-2 loss against the New York Islanders last night at the TD Garden to come to Madison Square Garden to take on the New York Rangers.

The Rangers have won the last four meetings between the two teams, two this season on Jan.21 and February 14.

Scratches: Nathan Horton(concussion) Andrew Ference(lower body) Daniel Paille (upper body) Tuukka Rask(knee injury)Mike Mottau(healthy)Rich Peverley (MCL Sprain)

Lines:

Milan Lucic-David Krejci-Tyler Seguin

Brad Marchand- Patrice Bergeron – Brian Rolston

Benoit Pouliot- Chris Kelly – Jordan Caron

Lane MacDermid-Gregory Campbell-Shawn Thornton

Defensive Pairings:

Zdeno Chara -Johnny BOychuk

Joe Corvo – Dennis Seidenberg

Adam McQuaid -Greg Zanon 

Goaltenders: Tim Thomas(BOS) Henrik Lundvquist (NYR)