Boston Bruins

Since the Bruins went into overtime with the Rangers on Thursday, comparisons to Boston’s 2010 series against the Philadelphia Flyers started popping up. NESN’s Billy Jaffe said this is a completely different situation, though. Jaffe said he’s tired of hearing about comparisons to that series. Jaffe says the Bruins are playing much better now that they even were against the Leafs this postseason. The Bruins analyst thinks Boston will topple the Rangers on Saturday night to get some rest before the conference finals. To hear Jaffe’s take on the Bruins-Rangers series, check out the video above.

If a Game 6 between the Bruins and Rangers is necessary, it will begin at 7 p.m. on Monday at Madison Square Garden, the NHL has announced. Game 7, if necessary, would be Wednesday in Boston, but a start time...

There’s no denying that Bruins fans have a reason for concern after Thursday’s overtime loss to the New York Rangers. With a 2-0 lead in the second period, the B’s looked destined to sweep a Rangers squad that had their share of issues prior to Game 4. But a series of blunders that started with Tuukka Rask’s gaffe on Carl Hagelin’s backhander left many fans scratching their heads. It’s no secret that the Bruins have not fared well in closing out a series. Claude Julien is now 7-13 in closing situations. Rask, who backstopped the Black and Gold during the Flyers collapse in 2010, is 2-8 with a 3.20 goals against average and a .890 save percentage in series clinching scenarios. All of this is a reason for concern. But, there’s no reason for The Hub of Hockey to panic, at least for the time being. The two teams resume their series this afternoon at the TD Garden for Game 5. And while the Rangers might have a little momentum after Chris Kreider’s overtime winner, the Bruins are still in the driver’s seat. After returning home, the Bruins had a loose mentality after practice on Friday. They still know there’s work to be done, but there’s no reason to be disappointed with another chance to clinch the series. It’s a situation the B’s have been in before, including their first round series with the Toronto Maple Leafs, and they aren’t rattled by it. “There’s no panic here. Had we been outworked and not been there at all, we would be talking differently here. But we didn’t get outworked, and all it was, as a team, we didn’t execute as we have been,” Julien said after Thursday’s loss. “We have to go home and play a better game.” After Kreider scored his game-winner, some fans and talk-show radio hosts, including Michael Felger, were quick to compare Thursday’s Game 4 loss to the defeat against the Flyers in 2010. Those comparisons are completely misleading according to Rask. “I don’t even want to compare. It’s a totally different team,” said the Finnish goalie. “We beat Philly the next year, 4-0, and went on to win the Cup, so lots of things have happened and we’ve said all along that we don’t want to look at the past too much. We like to live in the moment and focus on the task at hand.” While Rask is still between the pipes three years later, the two teams are completely different. Unlike the Philly series three years ago where injuries to David Krejci and Marco Sturm hampered them, young defensemen Torey Krug, Matt Bartkowski and Dougie Hamilton (despite his blunder on Kreider’s winner) have done a solid job replacing an injured blue-line core of Andrew Ference, Dennis Seidenberg and Wade Redden. Moreover, youngsters like Hamilton and Tyler Seguin took responsibility for Thursday’s loss. And that’s an encouraging sign as Julien and company look ahead to Game 5. “I think the one thing our guys have been is they’ve done a great job being accountable,” Julien said. “Acknowledging it is certainly a great thing because it means they know what needs to be done and then, from your end of it, you make the correction and then they show confidence in them and they’re going to go back and redeem themselves.” If the Bruins play like they did in the first three games of the series – and through the first period and a half in Game 4 – then there’s a good chance they’ll be waiting to shake the Rangers’ hands to symbolize the end of the second round matchup. A loss, however, would really put the fan base on edge a little more. And that’s something the Bruins don’t need – even if they eventually wind up claiming the series in six or seven – with the Pittsburgh Penguins awaiting the winner of this series in the Eastern Conference Finals. “We want to rally

Just the Facts Game Time: 5:30 PM, TD Garden, Boston, MA. TV Broadcast: NBCSN, TSN, RDS. Radio Broadcast: 98.5 The Sports Hub. Record: Bruins 3, Rangers 1. The Other Side's SB Nation Site: Blueshirt Banter Get Tickets here: Boston Bruins Tickets Rangers projected lines Hagelin - Stepan - Callahan Zuccarello - Brassard - Nash Dorsett - Boyle - Pyatt Kreider - Newbury - Haley Girardi - McDonaghStralman - Del ZottoMoore - Eminger Lundqvist Bruins projected lines: Lucic - Krejci - Horton Marchand - Bergeron - JagrPeverley - Kelly - SeguinPaille - Campbell - Thornton Chara - HamiltonKrug - McQuaidBartkowski - Boychuk Rask Preview: I'm just going to assume Dennis Seidenberg is never ever coming back ever, maybe he actually will come back if I write the opposite about him. Bruins again have an opportunity to close out this series. They haven't won a series in five games in a really long time. The Rangers didn't play particularly well last game -- the Bruins just made a bunch of dumb mistakes -- if they focus and play as well as they did in games 1-3, they've got this. 5:30 start time is weird. Let's get it done.

May 21, 2013; New York, NY, USA; Boston Bruins defenseman Johnny Boychuk (55) celebrates after scoring on New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist (30) during the third period in game three of the second round of the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Madison Square Garden. Boston won 2-1. Mandatory Credit: Debby Wong-USA TODAY Sports For a little while, it looked like the parallels of the 2011 season were going to happen all over again. Then the refs showed up. It’s pretty safe to say that the Bruins have shaken off the confusion from that very odd loss in game four at Madison Square Garden. The Bruins will be playing today at home, where Bruins Nation should give Rangers’ coach John Tortorella the opportunity to come up with new combinations of profanity. One thing Bruins Nation has missed is NESN’s coverage of the Black and Gold. What we have had to put up with is CNBC’s reporting of mispronounced names, and a flagrant bias of everything Henrik Lundqvist. (Hearing Todd March-and Zay-dano Chair-a has been driving me nuts, anyone else?) One of the members of the bias brigade, CNBC commentator Pierre McGuire did have some surprising things to say about the Bruins. “I’m telling you guys straight up: People are underplaying how deep Boston is and how good Boston is.” said McGuire in an interview reported by WEEI. “ And the Rangers don’t match up particularly well with Boston. That’s just the reality because they don’t have the same kind of offensive depth, especially down the middle, as they have in Boston. That’s a big problem. You compound that with the Chara factor and with the [Johnny] Boychuk factor in terms of size. You’ve got some very big defensemen. Whatever offensive press you might have if you’re New York, it gets shut down pretty quick.” It looks like the team from the coach on down has shaken off the bloopers and are ready to finish it out against the Rangers tonight. “I think there’s certain days; I know you’re not always great at your job sometimes, right?” Coach Julien said to a reporter following Friday’s skate at TD Garden, when asked about the B’s getting the “crispness” back in their game during practice after the mistake-prone loss.Same thing with those guys. You try, right? You muscle through. And that’s what we did yesterday. I didn’t think we were good, we were ‘okay.’ In the playoffs, okay is not enough to win you some hockey games.” “We’ve proven along in this series that we can be good and consistent. We’ve just got to be good and bounce back tomorrow.” I’m sure tonight the Bruins will be more focused on situational awareness and it’s doubtful the bloopers of last night’s game will be repeated. Bruins look to end the Rangers season tonight at the TD Garden. No matter what happens, Tortorella’s post game interview should be worth watching.

8 a.m. ET: All it takes is one win sometimes. The Rangers are hoping that’s the case in their second-round series with the Bruins, and they’ll look to prove that on Saturday in Game 5 against the Bruins. The B’s, who have made a habit out of making things very, very interesting in series over the past few seasons, have some thinking they’re in the position to cough upf another big lead. The Bruins took a 3-0 series lead into Game 4 on Thursday night, and quite frankly, Boston played one of its worst games of the playoffs. Despite taking a 2-0 lead midway through the second period, the Bruins saw that lead evaporate before losing Game 4 in overtime on a Chris Kreider game-winning goal. Boston had a great chance to sweep the series and earn themselves a pretty nice rest over Memorial Day weekend. Instead, they made a handful of costly errors en route to the OT loss. Now the Bruins head home looking to put things away with the Pittsburgh Penguins waiting for their Eastern Conference finals opponent. The Bruins may have a decision to make on the blue line entering Game 5. Dennis Seidenberg is getting healthier, and despite the contributions from a trio of rookie defensemen, it might make most sense to reinsert the veteran defenseman for a pretty important Game 5. Puck drop is slated for 5:30 p.m. at TD Garden.

Earlier this month, many of Torey Krug’s friends graduated from Michigan State.The rookie defenseman would’ve been a college senior this year, but last spring he left East Lansing, Mich., to sign with the Bruins. He said it was strange to hear about his friend’s graduation, but he couldn’t be happier with his decision.While his classmates may have just left school to pursue their hopes and dreams, Krug already has been living his.

Bruins president Cam Neely was sitting alone in the Madison Square Garden stands late Thursday morning watching his team’s morning skate in advance of what would be a sloppy, gift-wrapped 4-3 overtime loss to the Rangers that night.The B’s have three more chances to win the first-round series and very much hope they’ll require only one: today’s Game 5 at the Garden.Neely was talking about the B’s season-long inconsistency, and about how the club, in defiance of NHL accepted wisdom, has been able in the postseason to “flip the switch” and start playing the right way.

Bruins president Cam Neely was sitting alone in the Madison Square Garden stands late Thursday morning watching his team’s morning skate in advance of what would be a sloppy, gift-wrapped 4-3 overtime loss to the Rangers that night.The B’s have three more chances to win the first-round series and very much hope they’ll require only one: today’s Game 5 at the Garden.Neely was talking about the B’s season-long inconsistency, and about how the club, in defiance of NHL accepted wisdom, has been able in the postseason to “flip the switch” and start playing the right way.

New York Rangers coach John Tortorella wanted a new look for his fourth line for Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Bruins Thursday night.So he risked public ridicule by scratching his second-highest paid player, Brad Richards, along with grinder Arron Asham and inserted Kris Newbury and Micheal Haley to join Derek Dorsett.