The Boston Bruins are 7-1-0 since Bruce Cassidy took over as coach Feb. 7, and are tied in points with the Ottawa Senators for second place in the Atlantic Division, though Ottawa has two games in hand. The Bruins acquired forward Drew Stafford in a trade with the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday for a conditional sixth-round pick in the 2018 draft. Stafford will not play Thursday. "They've worked hard to get themselves into the position we're in," Cassidy said. "So for their sake ... I'd like to keep the group together and we've added a good piece. We'll see where [Stafford] fits in and hopefully makes us a better team." The Bruins have won four straight at home and are 16-13-0 at TD Garden, but lost two early-season games to the Rangers, who won 5-2 at home on Oct. 26 and 5-2 in Boston on Nov. 5. "An extremely fast team. They're very deep as well, especially up front," defenseman Torey Krug said. "They put you back on your heels so we've got to clog up the neutral zone to make sure they can't come at us with too much speed. We know that throughout the game they're going to get their chances. It's a sign of a good team. But for us it's about limiting that and making sure they're not Grade A chances."
