Rangers in Beantown for Pre-Season Matinee

After giving up a two goal lead to the Detroit Red Wings Friday night, the Blueshirts are right back at it in Boston today, where they will clash with the Bruins at 4pm. This is the second time this week the Bruins and Rangers will meet for a pre-season game, as the Bruins defeated the Rangers 2-1 on Tuesday Night.

In yesterday's game, it was the youngsters that were superior throughout, especially the Russian line of Grachev, Anisimov, and Lisin. They were effectively using their size and strength to their advantage, moving the puck up ice, and converting for two of the three Ranger goals. Anisimov and Lisin will both be in the lineup today, but Grachev will get a rest, as he has played in every pre-season contest so far.

This is the roster of players that is supposedly playing today, and I am assuming that the lines and d-pairings will look a bit like this:

Avery-Prospal-Kotalik
Parenteau-Anisimov-Lisin
Brashear-Boyle-Voros
Byers-Locke-Owens

Staal-Gilroy
Del Zotto-Girardi
Semenov-Sanguinetti

Valiquette
Johnson

The offense is around average for the Blueshirts in this one, but the defense is where Tortorella will be watching awfully closely, because with exception to Staal and Girardi, the entire Ranger blueline is fighting for a spot on the roster this year, and so far the front runners are Gilroy and Del Zotto. Bobby Sanguinetti was impressive last night, playing a very solid game in his own end, as did Alexei Semenov, so both of them will return to the lineup in Boston.

The goaltending will be Valiquette and Johnson, as listed above. The duo have both let up only one goal a piece thus far in the pre-season, and have been very consistent for the most part, so I am not worried about them.

Del Zotto and Kotalik will be re-united on the point with the man advantage, so that is something to keep an eye on, as well as Matt Gilroy who will most definitely see some powerplay time if the Rangers are awarded it.

Gilroy was phenomenal in the game against the Devils on Wednesday night, creating plays via the outlet pass, joining the rush, and scoring a beauty of a goal against Yann Danis. Matt also registered a goal in the eight-round shootout.

It is nice to see that Redden and Rozsival will sit out of this one, so the coaching staff can focus solely on the youngsters, as that is what matters most at this stage of the pre-season.

Hopefully the Brashear-Boyle-Voros line will be together once again, coming off of a great performance last night in Detroit.

Also be sure to keep an eye on the Anisimov-Lisin combination, who also had fantastic games last night.

Bruins Lineup:

Goaltenders: Tim Thomas and Tuukka Rask
Defensemen: Johnny Boychuk, Drew Fata, Derek Morris, Jeff Penner, Mark Stuart and Dennis Wideman.
Forwards: Jamie Arniel, Steve Begin, Zach Hamill, Jeff LoVecchio, Milan Lucic, Kirk MacDonald, Michael Ryder, Max Sauve, Marc Savard, Marco Sturm, Shawn Thornton and Trent Whitfield.

Check back after the game for my routine post-game analysis......
(Photo courtesy of Getty Images)