Preview: Bruins (19-14) at Rangers (21-14)
Date: January 11, 2016 7:00 PM EDT
It's been three weeks since the Boston Bruins won consecutive games and nearly a month longer for the New York Rangers.
While neither is in position to do so Monday night at Madison Square Garden, both will be looking for the makings of such momentum that came consistently earlier in the season.
Both teams fell just short of consecutive wins Saturday with Boston (21-14-5) losing 2-1 in overtime at Ottawa and New York (22-14-5) falling 4-3 in overtime at home against Eastern Conference-leading Washington.
The Bruins, playing their third on a five-game road trip, have gone 2-5-1 since a three-game winning streak from Dec. 16-20. The Rangers, completing a three-game homestand, are 6-11-3 dating to wins on Nov. 21 and 23, though they weren't entirely discouraged with scoring three straight goals to start the third period after falling behind 2-0, then losing the lead in the final seconds of regulation.
"This was taking a step forward as a team," coach Alain Vigneault said. "We battled back from a two-goal deficit against one of the best defensive teams in the league, one of the goaltenders that had been hard on a lot of teams. We were real close to getting it done."
Boston's Claude Julien had similar thoughts on his team's effort after tying the game early in the second.
"We came out and competed hard so again not unhappy with our effort," Julien said. "We had a chance to win this game. It could have easily gone the other way, so we'll take the point and move on here."
The Bruins' inconsistency begins with scoring. They've been held to one goal or less in four of the last eight, and seven of the 19 scored in that span came in one game. There's been some inconsistency among their lines with David Krejci missing the last five games with an upper-body injury, while Brad Marchand returned against Ottawa from a three-game suspension.
"We didn't have a great start, but once we got our legs under us and started playing our game, I thought we played pretty decent," Marchand told the team's official website. "It felt really good to be back and be around the guys, feel like part of the team again. I just want to keep moving forward now."
The Bruins have dominated the series lately with six wins in the last seven meetings, including a 4-3 victory in Boston on Nov. 27.
More recently, things have been messy in the defensive zone for the Rangers with an average of 3.92 goals allowed per game over a 4-7-2 span. It again hurt them as the Capitals' Nicklas Backstrom scored with six seconds remaining in regulation.
"Unfortunately we left a good player in front of the net, all alone, and there was a rebound and he put it in," Vigneault told the team's official website.
A penalty kill getting the job done just 72.9 percent of the time in those 13 games with a power play at 13.0 percent hasn't helped. Boston likely won't be the team to break through against with a 36 for 38 (94.7 percent) kill over the last 14 games.
New York's Henrik Lundqvist has given up at least two goals in 11 straight games while going 4-5-1 with a 3.78 goals-against average and has lost his last five games versus Boston with a 3.85 mark.
Counterpart Tuukka Rask has a 3.29 GAA over a 0-2-1 stretch but has a 1.90 GAA on a 6-1-0 run against the Rangers.
Date: January 11, 2016 7:00 PM EDT
It's been three weeks since the Boston Bruins won consecutive games and nearly a month longer for the New York Rangers.
While neither is in position to do so Monday night at Madison Square Garden, both will be looking for the makings of such momentum that came consistently earlier in the season.
Both teams fell just short of consecutive wins Saturday with Boston (21-14-5) losing 2-1 in overtime at Ottawa and New York (22-14-5) falling 4-3 in overtime at home against Eastern Conference-leading Washington.
The Bruins, playing their third on a five-game road trip, have gone 2-5-1 since a three-game winning streak from Dec. 16-20. The Rangers, completing a three-game homestand, are 6-11-3 dating to wins on Nov. 21 and 23, though they weren't entirely discouraged with scoring three straight goals to start the third period after falling behind 2-0, then losing the lead in the final seconds of regulation.
"This was taking a step forward as a team," coach Alain Vigneault said. "We battled back from a two-goal deficit against one of the best defensive teams in the league, one of the goaltenders that had been hard on a lot of teams. We were real close to getting it done."
Boston's Claude Julien had similar thoughts on his team's effort after tying the game early in the second.
"We came out and competed hard so again not unhappy with our effort," Julien said. "We had a chance to win this game. It could have easily gone the other way, so we'll take the point and move on here."
The Bruins' inconsistency begins with scoring. They've been held to one goal or less in four of the last eight, and seven of the 19 scored in that span came in one game. There's been some inconsistency among their lines with David Krejci missing the last five games with an upper-body injury, while Brad Marchand returned against Ottawa from a three-game suspension.
"We didn't have a great start, but once we got our legs under us and started playing our game, I thought we played pretty decent," Marchand told the team's official website. "It felt really good to be back and be around the guys, feel like part of the team again. I just want to keep moving forward now."
The Bruins have dominated the series lately with six wins in the last seven meetings, including a 4-3 victory in Boston on Nov. 27.
More recently, things have been messy in the defensive zone for the Rangers with an average of 3.92 goals allowed per game over a 4-7-2 span. It again hurt them as the Capitals' Nicklas Backstrom scored with six seconds remaining in regulation.
"Unfortunately we left a good player in front of the net, all alone, and there was a rebound and he put it in," Vigneault told the team's official website.
A penalty kill getting the job done just 72.9 percent of the time in those 13 games with a power play at 13.0 percent hasn't helped. Boston likely won't be the team to break through against with a 36 for 38 (94.7 percent) kill over the last 14 games.
New York's Henrik Lundqvist has given up at least two goals in 11 straight games while going 4-5-1 with a 3.78 goals-against average and has lost his last five games versus Boston with a 3.85 mark.
Counterpart Tuukka Rask has a 3.29 GAA over a 0-2-1 stretch but has a 1.90 GAA on a 6-1-0 run against the Rangers.
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