Bruins at Rangers
The New York Rangers attempt to conclude their homestand with a winning record when they face off against the Boston Bruins on Wednesday. After beginning its four-game stretch at Madison Square Garden with a 1-0 loss to Montreal, New York topped Carolina on Saturday and rolled past Florida 6-3 two nights later. Defenseman Dan Boyle snapped a tie 8:10 into the third period and All-Star Rick Nash scored twice to grab a share of the league lead with 31 goals as the Rangers won for the 18th time in 23 overall games.
Boston is riding a point streak that reached four games with Saturday's 3-1 triumph over Los Angeles. Brad Marchand scored a pair of goals as the Bruins improved to 3-0-1 over their last four contests and 8-1-1 in their last 10. All-Star Patrice Bergeron tallied in the first period and Tuukka Rask made 30 saves en route to his 25th career shutout and second this season as Boston skated to a 3-0 home triumph on Jan. 15 in its first meeting with New York this campaign.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, NBCSN
ABOUT THE BRUINS (27-16-7): Rask is expected to make his ninth consecutive start and first since being named the NHL's Third Star of the Month of January on Monday. The 27-year-old Finn posted a 7-1-3 record a 1.64 goals-against average and .949 save percentage while allowing fewer than three goals in nine of his 11 games last month. "He's been excellent for us," defenseman Adam McQuaid told the team's website. "He's making timely saves, huge saves. There's been some breakdowns and he's been there for us."
ABOUT THE RANGERS (29-15-4): Nash's two-goal performance Monday tied him with Washington captain Alex Ovechkin for the league lead. The 30-year-old reached the 30-goal plateau for the eighth time in his career and first since 2011-12 with Columbus. Martin St. Louis is looking to halt his nine-game goal-scoring drought as the veteran has not tallied since Jan. 10 in San Jose.
OVERTIME
1. The Bruins are 6-0-2 in their last eight overall meetings with the Rangers and 3-0-1 in their last four at New York.
2. Monday's six-goal output matched a season high for the Rangers, who also tallied six times against Buffalo on Jan. 3.
3. Boston RW Loui Eriksson is expected to play against New York after leaving Saturday's game with an undisclosed injury.