The New York Rangers (6-3-2) are on a three-game winning streak after losing four straight in October. Their latest victory, a 1-0 overtime win, came on Nov. 1 against one of their Metropolitan Division rivals, the Philadelphia Flyers. Chris Kreider (two goals, two assists) and Mika Zibanejad (two goals, three assists) have led the team in points during the consecutive victories, and Igor Shesterkin has been good with a .909 save percentage (SV%) on Oct. 29 against the Dallas Stars, followed by a .900 SV% on Oct. 30 versus the Arizona Coyotes, and a 1.000 SV% against the Flyers.
The Boston Bruins (9-1-0) are tied with the Vegas Golden Knights atop the NHL standings with 18 points. Despite their key players recovering from injuries at the beginning of the season, they have excelled under new head coach Jim Montgomery. David Pastrnak has played exceptionally well with 18 points (seven goals, 11 assists) in 10 games and will be rewarded with a new multi-year contract at some point. Here’s our gameday preview.
New York Rangers Projected Lineup
Forwards
Kreider – Zibanejad – Kaapo Kakko
Artemi Panarin – Vincent Trocheck – Alexis Lafreniere
Jimmy Vesey – Barclay Goodrow – Julien Gauthier
Sammy Blais – Ryan Carpenter – Ryan Reaves
Defense
Ryan Lindgren – Adam Fox
K’Andre Miller – Jacob Trouba
Zac Jones – Braden Schneider
Goaltenders
Shesterkin – Jaroslav Halak
Rangers Led by Their Star Players, Kravtsov Out at Least until Next Week
Kreider, Zibanejad, and Shesterkin have done well during the Rangers’ winning streak, and the starting netminder earned praise for his significance in their most recent win against the Flyers. Kreider said he was “massive. It’s like old hat at this point. He makes really hard saves look easy, so when they’re getting those flurries, we on the bench probably don’t realize how good of a chance some of those chances are when he makes them look that easy. He’s our best player pretty much every night, and he certainly was tonight” (from “Rangers’ Igor Shesterkin picks up first shutout of season: ‘old hat’,” New York Post, 11/2/22). Zibanejad added, “He’s been big for us every game for the past however many years he’s been here. He comes up clutch, and that’s what we need.”
Vitali Kravtsov suffered an injury and left the game versus the Stars. He has missed a fair amount of action with another injury suffered on Oct. 11 versus the Tampa Bay Lightning. He was aiming to play regularly this season, but that has not worked out during the first few weeks. Filip Chytil is day-to-day and is aiming to return within the next few games.
Boston Bruins Projected Lineup
Forwards
Brad Marchand – Patrice Bergeron – Jake DeBrusk
Taylor Hall – Pavel Zacha – Pastrnak
Trent Frederic – Charlie Coyle – A.J. Greer
Nick Foligno – Tomas Nosek – Jakub Lauko
Defense
Hampus Lindholm – Connor Clifton
Matt Grzelcyk – Brandon Carlo
Mike Reilly – Anton Stralman
Goaltenders
Linus Ullmark – Keith Kinkaid
Bruins’ Success Despite Injuries
The Bruins were without Marchand, Grzelcyk, Carlo, and Charlie McAvoy at the beginning of the season. Marchand, Grzelcyk, and Carlo have all returned over the course of the last few weeks, but they have since lost David Krejci, Jeremy Swayman, and Derek Forbort. Montgomery’s presence has had a positive impact on those players who had differences with former head coach Bruce Cassidy (now with the Golden Knights).
Related: Bruins Weekly: Historic October, Ullmark, Lauko & More
Montgomery had an encouraging message for Ullmark before he needed to re-enter the Nov. 1 overtime win versus the Pittsburgh Penguins after the injury to Swayman, “I talked to Linus. I needed to slow down the game. I didn’t want to burn a timeout because we weren’t giving up a multitude of chances. We had big breakdowns in the middle of the ice, which is usually our strength. I just went over to him in the timeout and said, ‘Not one goal is your fault.’ I said, ‘Don’t worry about it. I need to slow the game down.’ Sway went in and battled. This depth on our team is pretty incredible.”
Players To Watch
New York Rangers – Chris Kreider
Kreider is in the midst of his most productive stretch of games of the season so far. He has a history of being a streaky player, but his production makes the Rangers’ offense more of a threat, as he is one of the better players at capitalizing on opportunities in the offensive zone.
Boston Bruins – Linus Ullmark
Ullmark struggled during the Bruins’ game versus the Penguins but managed to play well after he needed to return. The starting goalie is 7-0-0 with a 2.19 goals-against average (GAA) and a .932 SV% in eight games, which is one of the reasons for their hot start. He will aim to shut down a Rangers offense led by Kreider, Panarin, Zibanejad, and Fox.
Tonight’s game has a 7:30 PM ET start time and will be broadcast on ESPN+.
*Rangers lines from @vzmercogliano on Twitter. Bruins lines from @FlutoShinzawa on Twitter.