Bruins need better starts on the road

NEW YORK – The Boston Bruins haven’t had the best starts on the road and Bruce Cassidy hopes that will change against the New York Rangers on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden.

No matter how the Bruins have started games of late, they’ve still found a way to battle back. Boston has earned points in seven of their last eight games (4-1-3). On the road, the Bruins are 1-2-1 this season. At home, they’re 5-2-2.

So what’s different?



“We wait around to see how the other team is going to play,” admitted Cassidy. “We need to initiate and play our game from the puck drop and understand that. It’s a process and we know that. We’ve been able to fight back in some of the games and others we haven’t, so we need to learn from it and be better right from the puck drop and hopefully tonight’s that night.”

Tonight, Cassidy will go with the same lineup that produced a 5-3 win over the Minnesota Wild on Monday at TD Garden. Tuukka Rask will start against the Rangers and Anton Khudobin returns as the backup. Rask is 9-7-3 with a 2.25 goals-against average and a .923 save percentage, including two shutouts in 20 career games against the Rangers.

SOLID D: Ever since Adam McQuaid suffered a broken fibula, the defensive core has been thrown into a bit of flux. Boston’s blue line is improving since Cassidy switched the defensive pairings. The Bruins’ top pair has been Zdeno Chara and Charlie McAvoy, while Brandon Carlo has been playing with Torey Krug. Tonight, the third pair will be Rob O’Gara and Kevan Miller.

Last year, Carlo spent his entire rookie season as Chara’s partner, and even though they were recently split up, Cassidy said it shouldn’t be looked at as a demotion.

“He should look at it as a compliment,” Cassidy said. “He’s now on his own a little bit and bringing something to a different pair. He had his tutelage under Zee, and they’ll still be paired up from time to time, but in general, it can look like a demotion if you go from the first pair to the second pair, but I don’t think his minutes are far off where they were. His role certainly hasn’t (changed) and he’s playing against good players every night and he’s a big part of our PK. Him and Torey have started to develop a little chemistry, similar to Zee and Charlie, so that’s a good thing for us.”

The top pair has looked comfortable. Chara has played his typical shutdown role against opponents’ top lines, and it’s allowed McAvoy the ability to join the rush and pinch when necessary. That style hasn’t had a negative impact on his defensive game and he’s shown the ability to get back and avoid odd-man rushes.

Even though Paul Postma has been the odd-man out and will be a healthy scratch for the second consecutive game, he was serviceable in the six games he’s played.

INJURY UPDATE: It’s possible Noel Acciari could return to the lineup on Friday against the Maple Leafs in Toronto. He hasn’t played since he broke his left index finger on opening night against the Nashville Predators. He made the trip with the team and participated in the morning skate on Wednesday.

“We’re shooting for Friday, if not, Saturday, so he’s that close. It’s the last little home stretch for him,” Cassidy said.

HOMETOWN BOYS: Both McAvoy and O'Gara will play their first NHL game at Madison Square Garden tonight. Both have played here previously, either at the college or youth level, but they're excited to play in front of family and friends at MSG. While McAvoy, a Long Beach, N.Y., native, grew up a Rangers fan, O'Gara, a Massapequa boy, was a fan of the Islanders.

"I was lucky enough to play here a few times in college, but I grew up an Islanders fan, to be honest," O'Gara said with a smile. "It's very cool. It's not every day that you get to play here. For some people, it's once in a lifetime and I'm excited. It'll be fun."

LUCK OF THE IRISH: There's a report that the Chicago Blackhawks will host the Bruins for the 2019 NHL Winter Classic on New Year's Day at Notre Dame Stadium. The Bruins have already hosted two games, the first at Fenway Park against the Flyers in 2010 and then the Montreal Canadiens at Gillette Stadium in 2015. Playing in South Bend would be an unbelievable experience for the NHL. Bruins rookie forward Anders Bjork played his collegiate career at Notre Dame.

"I've obviously heard the rumors, but it would be incredible," Bjork said. "I have no idea if it's true or not."

Here are the projected line combinations and defensive pairings vs. the Rangers

Forwards

Bjork-Bergeron-Pastrnak

Schaller-Kuraly-Heinen

DeBrusk-Szwarz-Vatrano

Beleskey-Nash-Czarnik

Defense

Chara-McAvoy

Krug-Carlo

O'Gara-Miller

Goalies

Rask

Khudobin