The New York Rangers and the Boston Bruins are set to meet for the first time in 2023-24 season. Considering that both of these teams have done nothing but win, this matinee should one for the ages.
The Boston Bruins enter today's contest as the best team in the National Hockey League, skating to a record of 14-2-3 (31 pts).
The New York Rangers aren't far behind their foe in Boston. The Rangers are currently tied with the Vancouver Canucks as the third-best team in the NHL, although the Rangers do have three games in hand.
Both team's are coming off of games that were played yesterday afternoon, more importantly, this will be the third game in four days for both groups as well.
Defense First:
Entering today's contest, the Rangers and Bruins are the two-best defensive teams in the league. The Rangers are allowing just 2.22 goals against per game (1st), while the Bruins are giving up 2.26 tallies each night (2nd).
Both teams have very similar numbers defensively, like you just saw above. Even at 5-on-5, Boston is giving up 10.58 high-danger chances per 60 minutes and the Rangers are surrendering 10.85 in the same category.
In this morning's press conference with Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette, I asked him about his risk factor when playing against a team as strong as Boston. He said "I don't think we want to play risky, I think we can create plenty. I thought we had a lot of good looks and some of them didn't even convert to shots or chances. We had opportunities and odd man rushes and chances to do the things that we want to do and we did it without high risk."
The Bruins are one of the best defensive teams in the NHL for a reason, they play a strong, structured system, just like the Rangers. Laviolette added "They're structured well defensively, they have been. They get good goaltending and so, I think we have to push offensively, but not at some price of risk."
Penalty Killing Prowess:
Over their last two games, the Rangers penalty kill has gone a perfect 11 for 11, which puts them as the sixth-best man-down in the league, killing off penalties at a 86.7%. That said, today's opponent is the best in that category. The Bruins are at an astounding 89% on the kill, so the Rangers power play (which is the third-best in the league at 29.8%).
Goaltending Battle:
Laviolette confirmed this morning that Jonathan Quick will be the Rangers starter today. The Rangers head coach went onto say "I think he's off to a really good start. His career has been unbelievable. For me, he's come in here and he's done exactly what our team has needed him to do. Even with Shesty [Igor Shesterkin] being out for a little bit, he stepped up and handled a lot. Even Louis [Domingue], came up and gave us a good game as well. There's been lots of, I think, people that have stepped up and certainly he's had a great start to his season."
I haven't seen any confirmation on Linus Ullmark getting the start for Boston, but considering that Jeremy Swayman started yesterday it can be assumed that Ullmark will get the nod.
Both net-minders have been outstanding for their respective clubs.
Ullmark is 7-1-1 with a .932 save percentage and a 2.10 goals against average and 7th best +6.6 goals saved above expected.
Quick is 5-0-1 with a .940 save percentage and a 1.68 goals against average with his 3rd best +9.3 goals saved above expected.