Need to Know: Bruins vs Rangers 

BOSTON –– It is the final dress rehearsal for the Boston Bruins.

Saturday afternoon’s 2 p.m. game at TD Garden against the New York Rangers marks the Bruins’ sixth and last exhibition matchup before the 2025-26 season officially begins on Oct. 8.

Boston is down to 28 players in training camp, and Saturday’s lineup will feature most of the team’s top talent. There has been a lot to learn under new head coach Marco Sturm, but the Bruins feel ready to put what they’ve been working on into practice.

“Every day is an opportunity to get better, and I think we’ve used it as such,” Charlie McAvoy said. “Whoever is going to be with us to get going, you’ll know they earned it through this camp. It’s been a hard camp and a lot of compete.”

Fraser Minten is one of the players battling to secure a spot come opening night. The 21-year-old forward will skate against the Rangers, centering the third line between Tanner Jeannot and Mikey Eyssimont. Minten, who was traded to Boston in March and spent time in both the AHL and NHL, feels the pressure of the final days of camp but does not want it to affect his performance

“I think you can look at it as [stressful]. You can also take it as just being grateful to be here,” Minten said. “Trying to look at it from that perspective. I would’ve given a lot to be in this situation a couple years ago. Happy to be here and looking at it from that perspective.”

Sturm has been impressed with what the youngster has brought to his first camp experience with the organization, and is giving him another chance to prove himself in a game situation.

"I like what I’ve seen so far, I really do. Maybe he’s the one guy; he surprised me in a positive way,” Sturm said of Minten. "He is very reliable for me, what he has shown in the past, how he is off the ice. He is more like a man already than a little kid."

Wait, There’s More

• Casey Mittelstadt is skating for the Bruins after precautionarily missing two practices this week with a lower-body injury. The forward is set to center the second line alongside Pavel Zacha and Viktor Arvidsson. He has also been slotted on the second power play unit throughout camp.
• Jeremy Swayman will make his second start of the preseason on Saturday. The goaltender made 19 saves on 21 shots in the Bruins’ 3-2 shootout loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Sept. 29 in his first appearance. Swayman had a 3.11 goals against average and a .892 save percentage through 58 games last year.
• The Bruins are expected to put out an NHL-regular filled blueline. Mason Lohrei and McAvoy have remained together on the first pair, Hampus Lindholm and Andrew Peeke on the second and Nikita Zadorov and Henri Jokiharju on the third. Those combinations have held strong the past two weeks of camp.

Opposing View

• Joe Sacco returns to TD Garden as an assistant coach for the New York Rangers. Sacco spent the previous 11 years with the Bruins as an assistant and associate coach before being named interim head coach for the final 62 games of the 2024-25 season.
• Adam Fox is expected to be in the lineup for the Rangers. The defenseman grew up on Long Island playing youth hockey with McAvoy. The childhood friends got to wear the same jersey again for Team USA during the 4 Nations Faceoff in February. Fox had 61 points (10 goals, 51 assists) in 74 games last season in New York.
• Igor Shesterkin and Jonathan Quick are both options in net for the Rangers. Shesterkin posted a 2.86 GAA and .905 SV% last season, while Quick had a 3.17 GAA and .893 SV%.