Here’s to hoping the Boston Bruins-New York Rangers rivalry will be reignited this season.
Once one of hockey’s great rivalries, the hate between the two sides has fizzled out in recent years. But with the NHL’s divisional realignment for the present season, the two sides will see one another eight times in 2021, the first such meeting coming Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden.
The Bruins, who haven’t played since beating the Philadelphia Flyers this past Friday, are getting a few reinforcements in Jake DeBrusk and Matt Grzelcyk.
With the Nick Ritchie-David Krejci-Craig Smith line buzzing, DeBrusk will slot in on the third line, joining Charlie Coyle and Anders Bjork, who gets bumped up from the fourth unit.
With Bjork up, Chris Wagner returns to the fourth line, where he’ll skate alongside Sean Kuraly and Trent Frederic, who also bumps down to the fourth unit from the third. Anton Blidh will be healthy scratched as a result.
Grzelcyk will return to his usual spot on the second defensive pairing next to Brandon Carlo. Connor Clifton will be healthy scratched as a result, but it’s possible we could see Clifton later on in the week.
Here are the projected lineups for Wednesday’s Bruins-Rangers game.
BOSTON BRUINS (8-1-2)
Brad Marchand–Patrice Bergeron–David Pastrnak
Nick Ritchie–David Krejci–Craig Smith
Jake DeBrusk–Charlie Coyle–Anders Bjork
Trent Frederic–Sean Kuraly–Chris Wagner
Jeremy Lauzon–Charlie McAvoy
Connor Clifton–Brandon Carlo
Jakub Zboril–Kevan Miller
Tuukka Rask
NEW YORK RANGERS (4-5-2)
Chris Kreider–Mika Zibanejad–Pavel Buchnevich
Artemi Panarin–Ryan Strome–Kappo Kakko
Alexis Lafreniere–Brett Howden–Phil Di Giuseppe
Brendan Lemieux–Kevin Rooney–Julien Gauthier
Ryan Lindgren–Adam Fox
K’Andre Miller–Jacob Trouba
Libor Hajek–Anthony Bitetto
Alex Georgiev
