NHL Wednesday Night Rivalry Game
Face-off: Wednesday, 8:00 p.m. ET
Line: N/A

The Rangers will be looking to earn a big home victory over the Bruins when the teams meet Wednesday night. They’ve looked like a team that, with the exception of the searing-hot Washington Capitals, remains the class of the Eastern Conference. They’ve also looked like a team whose window of Stanley Cup contention is inexorably closing. Which New York Rangers squad will show up tonight against the Boston Bruins, another veteran team with a Jekyll-and-Hyde personality this season?

Typically, the Rangers have played their best hockey against the best teams. But the Bruins, with their imposing size and forecheck, have long been a bugaboo for the Blueshirts; they are 2-7 straight up against Boston. Even the Rangers’ best player, goaltender Henrik Lundqvist (2.41 GAA, .922 SV%) has looked mortal against the Bruins, who are 15-8 ATS in road games against starting goalies with a save percentage of at least .915 this season. But while we’re on the subject of trends that go against convention, here’s one we found particularly interesting: The Bruins are actually 1-6 ATS when playing with three or more days rest this season. The Atlantic Division side just completed an 0-3 swing through the Pacific Division powers in California, while the Rangers went 1-1-1 on the west coast last week.

Lundqvist will surely need to be at his usual excellence tonight, as the Bruins are the highest-scoring team in the NHL, averaging 3.0 goals per game. Boston boasts four players with at least 54 points: Patrice Bergeron (28 G, 33 A, 61 PTS), Loui Eriksson (27 G, 27 A, 54 PTS), David Krejci (15 G, 39 A, 54 PTS) and Brad Marchand (34 G, 20 A, 54 PTS). Their blueline can be a strong source of offense as well, with the ageless slapshot of Zdeno Chara (8 G, 24 A), and the spry mobility of Torey Krug (3 G, 33 A, 36 PTS). But you get the sense that, for all this firepower, goalie Tuukka Rask (2.51 GAA, .918 SV%) will need to be as good as Lundqvist. He can be.

While goaltending is critical to the lower-scoring Rangers, so are its special teams. New York generates the fewest power-play chances per game (2.6) and has the third-worst penalty killing numbers in the league (76.9%). When a man advantage for the Rangers presents itself, they will count on offense from Derick Brassard (25 G, 28 A, 53), who owns perhaps the team’s best shot, J.T. Miller (19 G, 20 A, 29 PTS), a rising talent who has been prone to slumps good and bad, and Ryan McDonagh (9 G, 23 A, 32 PTS), the team’s best power-play defenseman despite the presence—and occasional brilliance—of Keith Yandle (5 G, 35 A, 40 PTS). The skater New York most needs production from, on both the penalty kill and power play, is Rick Nash (13 G, 21 A, 34 PTS), its top two-way player who has recently returned from injury.