Rask looks to stay perfect when Bruins face Rangers
BOSTON -- Two Original Six rivals riding three-game winning streaks get together for the second time in 11 days when the New York Rangers visit the Boston Bruins on Saturday night.
The teams just met at Madison Square Garden Oct. 26, when the Bruins jumped to a 2-0 lead before the Rangers scored five straight goals for the 5-2 victory.
That was the start of a four-game road trip for Boston, which then went on to post one-goal victories at Detroit, Florida and Tampa Bay to get to 6-4-0 through the first 10 games.
"We're getting good goaltending, we're getting better as a team, we're playing harder and playing smarter," Bruins coach Claude Julien said after Tuukka Rask improved to 6-0 with a strong trip.
"Our power play was more like the power play we're used to seeing, and we continue to battle. It's not always pretty, but our guys are competitors, they're battlers, and they respect what we're trying to do."
The Rangers lost their next game after the Bruins visit, falling 3-2 at Carolina, but then scored 16 goals on a three-game homestand and stand at 8-3-0 and in first place in the Metropolitan Division.
New York fell behind three times Thursday night against the Edmonton Oilers, and coach Alain Vigneault even benched three of his top forwards for a portion of the game, but they broke through at the right time and won again.
"It wasn't our best but I thought it was a character win," Vigneault said. "We were down by a goal three times and were able to come back and win."
Saturday's game features the latest matchup of the Hayes brothers, and New York's Kevin and Boston's Jimmy both come into the game with a story.
Kevin, who dedicated his offseason to getting into real hockey shape, recorded a goal and two assists Thursday night and seven points in the last three games. He is up to four goals and 10 points and is a plus-9 for the first 11 games.
Jimmy, on the other hand, has gone 26 straight games dating back to his last NHL point Feb. 24. He is a minus-8 this season, minus-12 since his last point. But Thursday night, he scored in the 10th round of the shootout to give the Bruins a win over the Lightning.
"It's sure nice to be able to contribute the way you want to," Jimmy Hayes said. "It's been up and down here. I've just got to continue to build off this and find a way to find the back of the net."
Vigneault didn't like the matchup and sat the line of Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad and Jimmy Vesey in the second period Thursday. They returned in the third and helped the Rangers put the game away.
New York scored at least five goals in six of its eight wins.
Rask, who was hurt when the teams met in New York, owns a brilliant 1.48 goals against average and a .951 save percentage in his six games this season -- the Bruins 0-4 without him in goal. He comes in 9-5-3 with a 2.10 goals against average and a .930 save percentage in the regular season against the Rangers.
Counterpart Henrik Lundqvist is 24-12-2 with 1.95/.935 numbers against the Bruins.
