NY Rangers (20-7-1) at Boston Bruins (19-5-4)
16 Dec 2023 7:00 PM EST
Networks: MSG, NESN
Location: TD Garden, Boston
The New York Rangers are all set to play against the Boston Bruins in their second consecutive game tonight at 7:00 PM ET. The game can be watched on MSG Network and heard on ESPN 98.7 FM radio. The Rangers have won all three of their previous back-to-back games this year.
The Rangers have achieved 20 wins in 28 games, equalling the 1993-94 team’s record for the fewest games needed to reach 20 wins in franchise history. They are the third team in the NHL and the first in the Eastern Conference to achieve this milestone. The Rangers have the most wins in the NHL, tied with another team, and their 41 points rank third in the league.
On the road, the New York team has won 10 out of 15 games and have earned 21 points, with a .700 road point percentage that ranks third in the NHL. The Rangers also have the best faceoff percentage in the league, with a 55.3 percent mark. They have won the faceoff battle in 22 of their 28 games, a feat they haven’t achieved since 1997-98 when the league began tracking faceoff win percentage.
The Rangers have played more regular season games (667) and have earned more regular season wins (265) against the Bruins than against any other opponent in their 97-season history. They also have the NHL’s second-best power-play percentage (30.7), having scored power-play goals in eight of their last ten games and in 21 of their first 28 games. With 27 power-play goals this year, they are tied for the fourth-most in the NHL.
The Rangers are 14-2-1 when they score the first goal of the game, tying with another team for the second-most such wins in the NHL. They are 11-1-1 when leading after two periods and a perfect 7-0-0 when tied after two periods. The Rangers have allowed one or fewer goals 11 times this season, the most in the NHL.
KREIDER TO MAKE HISTORY
Chris Kreider made history on Friday night as he scored two goals, surpassing Adam Graves for the third most goals in Rangers history with a total of 281 goals. He also recorded his 500th career point and became the fifth Ranger to tally 100 career power play goals. Kreider is now the 12th player to achieve 500 points with the franchise.
Currently, Kreider has 16 goals this season, which is tied for the most on the New York team. He has also accumulated 18 points in his last 21 games (11G-7A). In addition, only seven other active players have reached 100 power-play goals with their current franchise, including Alex Ovechkin (300 w/ WSH), Steven Stamkos (200 w/ TBL), Evgeni Malkin (175 w/ PIT), Sidney Crosby (165 w/ PIT), Leon Draisaitl (133 w/ EDM), Anze Kopitar (115 w/ LAK) and David Pastrnak (105 w/ BOS).
What happened on December 16 in the history of the New York Rangers
On this date in 1934, something happened at Madison Square Garden that had never happened before in NHL history. With Lester Patrick was running the bench for the New York Rangers and his brother Frank was the coach of the Boston Bruins, it was the first time that brothers opposed each other as head coaches. Lester’s Rangers beat Frank’s Bruins 2-1.
Lester narrowly edged out Frank in the 14 games in which they opposed each other. The brothers would meet five more times in the 1934-35 season, with the Rangers going 1-3-2. The next season they would play eight times with Lester prevailing 6-2. Lester won the sibling rivalry with a 7-5-2 record.
NYR lineup:
Chris Kreider -- Mika Zibanejad -- Blake Wheeler
Artemi Panarin -- Vincent Trocheck -- Alexis Lafreniere
Will Cuylle -- Adam Edstrom -- Jonny Brodzinski
Jimmy Vesey -- Barclay Goodrow -- Tyler Pitlick
Ryan Lindgren -- Adam Fox
Erik Gustafsson -- Jacob Trouba
Zac Jones -- Braden Schneider
Igor Shesterkin
Jonathan Quick
Scratched: None
Injured: Kaapo Kakko (lower body), Filip Chytil (upper body), K’Andre Miller (personal), Nick Bonino (illness)
143 responses to “It’s Go Time!”
LGR! May Igor get through the first unscathed!
LGR! Igor! Stay awake!
2 comments?
Did all the B- heads get prucha’d?
Fansy-shmancy nothing plays. You suppose to shoot the puck, Alexis!
How does Mika not shoot that pass from Bread
Blog traffic is usually slower during the weekend games. I think…
So far, so far…
Is this thing on?
Is everyone at holiday parties tonight?
Poor Aunty the scapegoat in Carolina
Low demand for ledge real estate tonight
Good to see Boyler on MSG.
Smart move by MSG to add Boyle. They’ll be like 40 new subscribers from his siblings alone.
My uninformed opinion is that some team will claim Antti.
Igor will never get an interference call
Shesterkin strikes again
Here comes another penalty kill
No structure at all. The Bruins just fly through the neutral zone. These are GG’s Rangers.
This won’t count. My bad.
Or at least shouldn’t
Questionable decision to throw the flag here
Shocker
Another bullshizz review against us.
He definitely pushed his stick into the pad, into the goal. Thanks refs
IDK I’m inclined to say it was a good goal. Have seen far, far worse never called
And far, far less actually called, Beezle
252 days since Shesterkin’s last shutout
Those Boston unis look like scrambled eggs, oatmeal & burnt toast.
7 of the last 8 games, the opponent has scored first
I knew as soon as I saw the striped shirts that the call wouldn’t go the Rangers way.
Time to lay out Pastrnak
Open season on that jackass
Robocop due for an alignment.
Kreider needs to stick to shooting and leave the passing to everyone else.
Not that I dislike Bonino at all but I’m kinda sad the Swedish Giant isn’t playing again tonight
Idiot
Not a good tradeoff
They look totally disinterested.
They blatantly look like two teams that played yesterday.
Jamesgeau
Opportunity now
30 seconds to even get in the zone 🙁
Might as well take the last 20 seconds of the pp right off the clock
They tend to hold on to the puck/pass for too long. Be ready to do something when you get it.
They tend to pass when they have a shot and shoot when they don’t.
SOMEONE. NEEDS. TO. DEMOLISH. PASTRNAK. ALREADY.
EMBARRASSING
Pasta – destroy him
This should be a major major penalty
Betcha they change it to 2 because that’s what they always do to us.
This is without a doubt a five minute major.
When crusty gets physical you know it’s bad
So much for demolishing Pastrnak LMAO
Is Lindgren making himself vulnerable or is he being targeted?
After review, we’ve reduced it to no penalty
ORF, targeted
Wow
Well they aren’t going to get Pasternak tonight. Take a number…
Pasta’s a d**k
Refs tried to even it out. Panarin did barely anything worthy of a roughing minor
Rangers played with too much intensity at the end of that period
Isles are down 4-zip after two, to the Canadiens
Jamesgeau x2
Laffy sucks again
Did they fail to watch any video of the bruins penalty kill?
Don’t score here and momentum goes in the B’s favor. Fantastic…….
This is gonna be a loss…
We really should try to shoot at the net while on the PP
Beezle, that’s a crazy idea
Lazy penalty. We care more about this game then these guys do
*than
Plenty of time.
Another opportunity
Vermont!
Troch is on fire!
You misspelled torch.
Rangers playing for the point.
Why tf didn’t Zika go to the net there? The entire net was open and instead he tried a very low percentage backhand🤦🏼♂️
HORRIBLE BS icing call. Absolutely horrible
One point in the barn. Go for two!
I’m boycotting pasta
THAT WAS GORGEOUS!!
VERMONT!!
Tro Tro
Vinny with the Winnie.
2 big points tonight.
Who saw this win coming? 50+ minutes pretty much of nothing then bam and bam
We’re good again — woo*hoo!
Vinnie’s new agent = Tommy Devito’s agent
That there is a statement win
I’m the immortal words of Alicia Keys…
That Troch is on fire 🔥
Icelanders lost to the Canadiens
That was Shesty’s best full game by a mile in a long time.
Game winning Jamesgeau
Forecheck…Backcheck…Trocheck.
If anyone wants a good laugh, go look at the three stars of the game.
Happy for the Tro bro but Shest-boy-ardee really needs that W
Give them credit for not panicking and trying east-west and wish passes when down 1-0 for a long time on the road. They stuck with their system and it paid off.
No comparison – Rangers much deeper and more talented with some key Boston players out of the lineup in the OT.
What is Jack Edwards smoking (or probably drinking) when he’s on the air?
Holy shishkebob he’s strange.
Players like Trochek, Vesey, Goodrow, Lindgren win playoff games. Throw Quick in there too.
I’ll take a JamesGeau!
21-7-1
I miss the game again, didn’t get home until almost 9. Had to watch the on demand replay.
Busto doing everything on the ice except scoring. Big win, Igor was good, and the D was good in front of him.
Busto can’t buy a goal.
He is so overdue!
Perrault is looking very good https://x.com/jlazzy23/status/1733625958320468093?s=61
Trocheck blew coverage on the B’s goal, more than made up for it. I had the Boston feed—hilarious what goes on in that booth. Homerism on crack.
Was at holiday party, Lgr! And +1 to whatever coach had the balls to put Gus out the sole d-man behind bread and torch in OT
I have to admit I enjoyed Jack Edwards’ game calling.
Am I strange?
Great win for the Boys! Good to see Igor play a great 60 minutes. I was worried for a while that he would lose 1-0 and it would mess his head up even more. Glad we rallied and got the win!
Admiral – I could only get the Boston feed and had to listen to Edwards and his idiot friend. Did you catch the comment about Trouba and the stick incident a few weeks ago? He said if it was Marchand he would have gotten suspended for half a season. But Trouba got nothing because “he plays in New York”. Holy mackerel is that guy an idiot. We might have our issues with Sam and Joe but I get stuck with a lot of out of town announcers and I’ll take Sam and Joe.
St Pete – not sure if you saw my post in the last thread but just wanted to pass along condolences on your kitty. I have one just like that and will be devastated if I ever have to say goodbye to her.
Admiral
Busto may never score again. Where’s the ledge? Lol!
Admiral – His play calling is not terrible, but it’s when he starts with the Bruins being holier than thou that kills me.
wrhkeeper
I feel ya!
Wrhkeeper :
I think for me — the “holier than thou” is SO completely over the top that it’s actually hilarious and fun to listen to.
You know, how conspiracy theories (flat earth, no man on the moon, Big Mike, etc) are “fun” conspiracy theories!
Admiral A – Maybe I should take that approach. It usually just infuriates me! Maybe I would “enjoy” it more if I looked at it the way you do! Maybe I can practice those skills listening to Butch Goring?
Will try to keep this short. I usually do not have much to say and rarely post. But you guys are all really fantastic. I work at an office basically by myself. I hate most of my co workers and try to interact as little as possible. Yes, I have social issues! But I enjoy you all and this community very much. I look in on the comments throughout the day and you all keep me company quite well. Some of you I completely agree with, some I disagree and some of you annoy me at times. But it is all good and I love the passion that we all have for our favorite team. People I have never met and wouldn’t know if they were standing two feet from me. And you all mean a lot to me.
Have a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah (I know that is late), Happy Whatever. I wish you all good health and happiness.
And I hope all the Boneheads we have lost this year and previous years are still looking down on the blog and smiling and glad to see us keeping it up!
Thank you all!
W
Going would make an excellent politician.
Butch Goring is unlistenable.
Islanders fans are entitled, act as if they’re Yankees fans (despite winning 23 less championships and squeaking into the playoffs the past few years)…. Goring’s blabbery feeds right into that.
Edwards is so over the top ridiculous he’s like that guy in a Boston dive bar you run into that is so pathetically drunk you end up having a great time hanging out with.
Goring would be more sane and coherent than our current and previous presidents!
(Please no politics — I’m just making fun of Goring)
Edward’s is in the Johnny Most traditional. To him the Celtics never fouled anyone. He is such a Homer that is a self parody.
Dubya —
Great having you post, please drop in as often as you like, we are all nuts here (we are all Rangers fans, which by definition is a mild form of insanity)
NESN is the worst. As much as some may moan about Sam, Joe, Kay, etc they are lightyears better than anything on NESN.
Have to admit, was kinda pulling for Panarin to drop the gloves after that Lindgren targeting.
Beezle – Me too! And…I was expecting the call to get reversed and they would put Lindgren in the box!
Pastrnak is a dirty b*stard. Remember he did something to Girardi a few years ago. Sneaky dirty player. Can’t stand him
Panarin blew the coverage. Not Trochek.
“Busto can’t buy a goal. He is so overdue!”
I was beginning to wonder when someone was going to address the elaffy in the room.
How many goalless matches now? A dozen?
I changed the channel when Middleton was announced a member of the 100 year Bruin team. That trade still sickens me.
I wasn’t aware of Lafreniere’s goalless drought until a Fishsticks fan kept going on and on about it.
I kind of don’t care as the team is winning, but I do like Lafreniere’s style if okay and am rooting for him as a person.
Valley did a comparison of the Bruins goal and a Ranger goal being disallowed last year against the Ducks. It looked to be the exact same player with the opposite call. The NHL still has no standard on replays that are the most critical – goal/no goal. They still rely on the Magic 8 Ball in Toronto.
Brooksie:
😂😂
LAF looks great compared to the past. The puck isn’t going in for him. He seems to be doing all the right things.
Small sample size but my impression is that Laffy will always be a streaky scorer. The critical thing is for him to keep doing everything else at a high level with maximum effort when he is not putting them in.
with Igor psyche about as shaky as the average long-term Rangers fan, praying last night’s performance sets him up for a few more games!
In Lafrenière junior career, he was more of an assist guy. Never a big goal scorer by junior standards. Neither Panarin or Trochek can be called elite finishers, so that is keeping Lafrenière assist total down. And before you get on me, I’m not blaming Trochek or Panarin. I’m well aware that they are co MVPs of this team. I’m just pointing out Lafrenière game.
Throwback shield jerseys just another Dolan ploy to further stuff his pockets. Don’t fall for it.
Trocheck to #50: ‘When they come after me, that’s when you jump in. Capeesh?’
We best find someone who can (and will) put the fear of the Lord into chitheads like Pasternak B4 the Playoffs kick in.
Glad to see “Bran” Boyle on the tube.
I find Goring grating.
I can handle Daneyko & Rob Ray.
Wouldn’t want to be in the same bar as Daneyko back when he had a drinking and attitude problem. Much nicer these days.
Seemed to me that Tom Wilson did a lot of yapping and challenging last game against us with no challenge. Remedy in the works for arrogant punks like him?
Does LB think Jack Adams should be voted on by writers so he could make an unbiased vote?
It was amazing that valley or his staff could remember and find the clip of that disallowed Strome goal on lundqvist night and juxtapose it real time with fredricks goal
League needs to work on consistency and clarity.
Glad we overcame that.
Shesty pissed as it kept him from first shutout!
Trocheck has meshed with Bread this year, but have to believe Laf has been a big part of the way that line has worked overall. Hard to break it up now, but his skill set may ultimately be needed more, and fit better, on the Mika line.
Didn’t realize how dirty pasta was.
Next matchup, I hope lindgren fights him.
Size matchup is good.
Lindgren isn’t a fighter but neither is pasta.
Corporal Clegg – Yes, he is a dirty b*tch. He pulled some cheap stuff on Girardi a few years ago and I think Brendan Smith jumped him. We need to see more of that. Either Lindgren needs to fight him or Trouba needs to do his Trouba Train thing on him.
Torts is working miracles with an absolute joke of a roster in Philly.
Coos – It’s all a money grab. Hockey sweaters are sacred things. The most beautiful uniform in sports. I hate when they screw around with them in a money grab. I pass on them.
New post.
A few thoughts on the game:
1) Great win, but even better to see better defensive structure and Shesty play well. Need that Shesty against Toronto on Tuesday and Oilers on Thursday !!
2) Lindgren need to keep his head up. He has taken 4 big hits in recent games. He won’t make it through season if he keep this pace.
3) Trouba has had an outstanding season IMHO. Very steady, great leader!! His fight sent a message to the Bruins, that they will have to deal with him. I expect the Trouba Train will be meeting Pasta in their next game. Im hoping he catches him mid ice with his head down, the difference being that Trouba will hit him with a clean hit and Pasta, unlike Lindgren, may not get up.
4) I like Trouceck better each game. He is a playoff style player, hits, sets up linemates, chips in fair amount of goals and plays well in DZone. His FO numbers are off the charts and there is bigger value in that then many fans realize (RR2 group knows how important that is).
5) Laffy needs to find the net and get his confidence back, but like the way he is playing though wouldn’t mind him being a little more physical.