WILMINGTON – There are only a couple of final chances for hopeful Bruins players to crack the NHL roster, and the first of them will be on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden vs. the New York Rangers. So there are plenty of younger, bubble players making the trip to MSG, and looking to make those good, final impressions. Chief among that group is Swedish goalie Jonas Gustavsson getting his first full game of this preseason for the Black and Gold, the best chance he’ll get to win the backup competition with Jeremy Smith.
Beyond the goalie battle, there will be plenty of fourth line candidates (Brian Ferlin, Joonas Kemppainen, Anton Blidh, Tyler Randell, Max Talbot and Zac Rinaldo) in the lineup looking to secure one of the three spots on Boston’s new energy line for this season. It would seem that Chris Kelly already has one of those spots locked down, and there will be two up for grabs between the players suiting up vs. the Blueshirts. With all these things in mind, here are the expected line combos and D-pairings for tonight’s penultimate preseason game vs. New York with Gustavsson manning the pipes:
Hayes-Spooner-Connolly
Blidh-Kemppainen-Talbot
Rinaldo-Sexton-Randell
DeFazio-Khokhlachev-Ferlin
Irwin-McQuaid
Breen-Trotman
Cross-C. Miller
Gustavsson
Smith