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RANGERS (13-12-0) at BRUINS (16-7-2)
TV: NBC, TSN
Last 10: New York 6-4-0; Boston 7-2-1
Season series: This is the second of three meetings between the New York Rangers and Boston Bruins, who won 2-1 at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 19 despite being outshot 44-22. The nationally televised Black Friday matinee marks the first time the Rangers have played at TD Garden since being eliminated by the Bruins in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference Semifinal series in May.
Big story: Goaltender Tuukka Rask held the Rangers to 10 goals in their five-game playoff series win and foiled the Rangers again on Nov. 19, stopping 43 shots. The Rangers are 3-1-0 as they come to Boston for the finale of a five-game road trip.
Team Scope:
Rangers: New York started its trip by beating the Dallas Stars and Nashville Predators before being humbled 5-0 by the Tampa Bay Lightning Monday night in a game that saw goaltender Henrik Lundqvist pulled after allowing four goals on 22 shots.
Lundqvist and the Rangers rebounded nicely against the Florida Panthers on Wednesday.
Derick Brassard opened the scoring with a first-period power-play goal, and Brad Richards scored his team-leading seventh in the second period. Rick Nash's third-period goal gave New York what appeared to be a safe 3-0 lead. Scottie Upshall and Nick Bjugstad cut the margin to 3-2 by scoring less than four minutes apart, but a power-play goal by Mats Zuccarello and an empty-netter by Carl Hagelin wrapped up the 5-2 victory.
"We made some great plays at the right time tonight," Lundqvist said. "It felt it was a game of some mistakes, but we made them pay a couple of times. Special teams came up big."
Bruins: The Detroit Red Wings made it an unhappy Thanksgiving for the Bruins by pounding Boston 6-1 at Joe Louis Arena on Wednesday night. Justin Abdelkader gave the Red Wings the lead by beating Rask 11:49 into the game, and only Jarome Iginla's goal late in the third period averted a shutout.
"Everything we did tonight was just disastrous," coach Claude Julien said after his team's worst loss of the season. "We need to show more determination toward the net than we did. Right now, we're [settling for] a lot of perimeter stuff and criss-crossing, and that's why you see guys running into each other."
The six goals are the most Rask has given up since he allowed six in a 7-4 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Jan. 31, 2013.
Who's hot: Zuccarello has four points in his past three games. Nash has two goals in four games after a 17-game absence caused by a concussion. … Bruins forward Carl Soderberg has four points in his past four games and saw a three-game point streak halted Wednesday, as did defenseman Torey Krug, who has three points in his past four games.
Injury report: Rangers forward Derek Dorsett missed the game against the Panthers with a sore wrist. … The Bruins are still without defenseman Dennis Seidenberg (lower body), who was injured early in the game at New York.