BOSTON — The Bruins aim to end their six-game losing skid (0-3-3) Saturday afternoon at TD Garden against a talented and deep New York Rangers squad.
The Rangers became the first Eastern Conference team to clinch a playoff spot with a 5-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night, but they still have something to play for. New York has a 1-point lead over the Montreal Canadiens for the top seed in the East with two games in hand. The Presidents’ Trophy is the Rangers’ to lose at this stage.
The Rangers will receive a boost Saturday with the return of superstar goaltender Henrik Lundqvist. He hasn’t played since Feb. 2 because of an upper body injury. Lundqvist is 21-10-2 with a 1.85 GAA and a .937 save percentage in 33 career games versus the Bruins.
The Bruins aren’t expected to make any changes to their lineup. Boston’s lines and pairings at Friday’s practice were unchanged from Thursday’s overtime loss to the Anaheim Ducks.
Tuukka Rask likely will start against the Blueshirts. He’s 7-4-3 with a 1.99 GAA and a .934 save percentage in 14 career games against the Rangers.
Boston is tied with the Ottawa Senators for the second wild-card playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Ottawa, who has a game in hand on Boston, plays the Toronto Maple Leafs at 7 pm on Saturday night.
Here are the projected lineups for both teams:
BOSTON Bruins (36-25-13, fifth in Atlantic)
Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-David Krejci
Milan Lucic-Ryan Spooner-David Pastrnak
Loui Eriksson-Carl Soderberg-Reilly Smith
Chris Kelly-Gregory Campbell-Max Talbot
Zdeno Chara-Adam McQuaid
Torey Krug-Dennis Seidenberg
Matt Bartkowski-Zach Trotman
Tuukka Rask
NEW YORK RANGERS (47-19-7, first in Metropolitan)
Chris Kreider-Derek Stepan-Rick Nash
J.T. Miller-Derick Brassard-Mats Zuccarello
Carl Hagelin-Kevin Hayes-Jesper Fast
Tanner Glass-Dominic Moore-James Sheppard
Keith Yandle-Dan Girardi
Ryan McDonagh-Marc Staal
Matt Hunwick-Dan Boyle
Henrik Lundqvist
Thumbnail photo via Charles Krupa/Associated Press
