The Boston Bruins and the New York Rangers meet in NHL action from Madison Square Garden on Wednesday Night.
The Boston Bruins will look to build some momentum after a 3-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins in their last outing. Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron share the team-high with 15 points apiece this season, with Marchand posting a team-high 7 goals with 8 assists and Bergeron logging 6 goals with a team-high 9 assists this season. Charlie MCaVoy has 10 points with 9 assists of his own and David Krejci and Nick Ritchie each have 9 points with Krejci also owning 9 assists while Ritchie has 4 goals and 5 helpers. David Pastrnak is already back in the scoring mix with 8 points coming on 5 goald and 3 assists in 4 games this season. Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak have split the time in goal for Boston this year, with Rask going 5-2 with a 2.36 GAA while Halak has gone 3-1 with a 1.72 GAA for the B’s this season.
The New York Rangers will be looking for a bounce back win to get out of the basement of the cellar in the East division after a 2-0 loss to the Islanders last time out. Artemi Panarin leads the Rangers in scoring with 15 points coming on 5 goals and 10 assists while Pavel Buchnevich has 8 points with 3 goals and 5 helpers. Adam Fox has 7 points with 6 assists on the year while Ryan Strome has 6 points with 4 goals and a pair of assists. Phil Di Giuseppe also has 5 assists and Chris Kreider and K-Andre Miller each have 4 points with Kreider scoring 4 goals while Miller has 3 assists. Igor Shesterkin and Alexandar Georgiev each have seen a fair share of work for the Rangers in goal, with Shesterkin going 3-3 with a 2.31 GAA while Georgiev has a win, a shutout and a 3.27 GAA this season.
Boston is 7-1 in their last 8 games overall and 7-2 in their last 9 games against a team with a losing record while the under is 13-3 in their last 16 games against a team with a losing record. New York is 4-11 in their last 15 games overall and 0-4 in their last 4 games as an underdog while the under is 6-1 in their last 7 games overall. Boston if 4-0 in the last 4 meetings between these two teams.
I have gone back and forth on this game, but I think for a free play we’ve gotta go with the over. Boston is fully capable of taking advantage of a leaky New York goaltending group of Shesterkin and Georgiev who have yet to really find their footing this season, but I also think the Rangers have one of the more underrated offensive groups in the NHL. Either way, I see there being enough offensive production from both sides to get us over the number here.