Rangers at Bruins
It promises to be a record-setting night for one of the goaltenders when the New York Rangers visit the Boston Bruins on Saturday night in the final game for both teams prior to hitting their bye weeks. New York's Henrik Lundqvist and Boston's Tuukka Rask, a pair of former Vezina Trophy winners, each have a chance to enter the break by reaching a major milestone.
Rask improved to 6-0-1 in his last seven starts in Thursday's 5-2 victory over St. Louis to match the franchise record for all-time wins of 252 held by Tiny Thompson. "It's an Original Six franchise. I've had the luxury to be here for many, many years, so it obviously means a lot," Rask said. "Many more to come, hopefully." Lundqvist, meanwhile, has a chance to move into sole possession of sixth place on the career wins list after tying Terry Sawchuk with his 445th victory as New York edged Chicago 4-3 on Thursday night. "It's an honor to be up there, getting closer and closer to and already passing names that meant a lot to me growing up," Lundqvist said. "It's a very cool feeling."
TV: 7 p.m. ET, NHL Network, MSG (New York), NESN (Boston)
ABOUT THE RANGERS (20-20-7): New York has won three of four following a five-game skid and is getting outstanding production from the line of Mats Zuccarello, Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider. Zuccarello (four goals, three assists) and Zibanejad (three goals, four assists) are each riding four-game point streaks while Kreider, the team's top goal scorer, has back-to-back two-point games. "We're skating with confidence," said Zibanejad, who leads the team in points (42) and assists (27). "Just demanding the puck, all three of us. Just holding onto pucks and making the right plays, not overthinking things."
ABOUT THE BRUINS (27-16-5): Boston has had a revolving door at right wing on its No. 2 line throughout the season and the latest player to audition is Peter Cehlarik, who scored a pair of goals in his season debut at Philadelphia on Wednesday and added an assist the following night. “He’s done what we’ve asked and more," coach Bruce Cassidy said of Cehlarik, who had three goals in 19 games over parts of three seasons. "He finished the other night, a couple times, so we know he’s capable of offense. Linemate David Krejci had three assists Thursday to give him seven points during a five-game streak.
OVERTIME
1. Lundqvist is 27-13-2 with six shutouts against Boston -- his second-highest total against any team.
2. Bruins C Patrice Bergeron scored twice as Boston ended a seven-game slide in the series with a 6-1 win on Feb. 7.
3. New York assigned rookie Alexandar Georgiev to Hartford of the American Hockey League and recalled fellow G Marek Mazanec.