Bruins-Rangers: April Meeting May Be Stanley Cup Playoffs Preview

The Boston Bruins and the New York Rangers face each other on Apr. 4 and that could be a preview of the first round of the play-offs.

The Boston Bruins (42-12-9) have been at the top of the division and the league for most of the year. The New York Rangers (32-24-8) were on top, briefly, at the start of the season. The Rangers got off to a 10 and 2 start.

More recently, the Rangers went 2-10, but a few things have changed since then. The Rangers fired their coach, Tom Renney, and hired former Florida Panther's coach, John Tortorella, who has a reputation for being a fiery presence behind the bench.

After a few games under Tortorella, the Rangers started to turn into an aggressive team, again. The Rangers were called 'vanilla' and then they re-hired their favourite villain, Sean Avery, with hopes he would spark the team in the stretch to the playoffs, as he did the previous two seasons.

After being dismissed from the Dallas Stars, some said Avery would never play in the NHL again, but he graduated from a course in anger management and played his way back in the AHL.

Avery was the difference maker for the Hartford Wolf Pack, leading them on their longest win-streak of the season. The Rangers hope he has the same effect on their team, as he did in the past.

The Washington Capitals recently showed the Bruins are beatable. They had a 4-3 win, settled just 22 seconds into overtime. Boston lost at home for just the fourth time in its past 27 games.

The Bruins' secret to success, they say, is a commitment to skating their lanes and crashing the net. That's the strategy of coach Claude Julien. The Bruins' goalie, Tim Thomas, leads the league in GAA and save percentage.

Blake Wheeler, on right wing, leads the league in the plus/minus category. Marc Savard is their best scorer.

Boston is not the best on the shootout or going into the corners. At the trade deadline, they were shopping for a defenceman, hoping to land Chris Pronger or Tomas Kaberle.
The Rangers had trouble scoring goals this year and were criticized as being under-achievers, until the arrival of Tortorella and Avery.

The Rangers drastically outplayed Toronto, Florida, and Colorado with their high-pressure attack in the offensive zone, attacking in fours, with a defensemen and not just the wings and center. And then they added Avery.

A week ago, it would have been a walk in Central Park for the Bruins but now the Rangers will definitely give them a game.