NHL Betting – Rangers and Penguins Renew Rivalry
By Zack Garrison in News
Updated: January 17, 2018 at 9:39 am ESTPublished:
New York Rangers (+115) at Pittsburgh Penguins (-135, 5 o/u)
The Pittsburgh Penguins (32-22-8, 72 pts) are about to get really sick of seeing the New York Rangers (37-20-6, 80 pts), with both teams slated to play three times in the month of March. But with Pittsburgh in a battle for the East’s final playoff spot, they’ll need to put a stop to the Rangers’ head-to-head domination with a win tonight at the CONSOL Energy Center (7:00 PM Eastern).
The Rangers are 8-1-0-1 in their last ten meetings against the Penguins, which includes knocking Pittsburgh out of the first round of last year’s playoffs in five games. Solving Henrik Lundqvist has proven to be a thorn in Sidney Crosby and company’s side: the Rangers won all four postseason games by an identical 2-1 scoreline. Not to mention “King Henrik” had a 34 save shutout of the Pens in this year’s initial meeting, a 3-0 Rangers win.
New York comes into this game having won the last three by one goal each, beating the St. Louis Blues, 2-1, the Dallas Stars, 3-2, and the Columbus Blue Jackets, 2-1. Those wins helped the team climb to the second spot in the Metropolitan Division; they’re still 16 points away from the Washington Capitals, but now five ahead of the New York Islanders and eight ahead of the Pens.
The Rangers have a 7-2-1 record in their last ten outings, but they haven’t been as effective on the road as they have been at home. New York is 14-14-3 away from home this season and 6-11 when underdogs. Also, they create the fewest power play chances in the league with just 2.6 per game and are second-worst in power play goals in the league with 0.5 per game.
The Penguins are a decent 19-9-4 at home this season, and they lead the league in shots with 32.8 per game. Yet, they’re only able to muster 2.7 goals per game, which ranks even lower than the Rangers.
Pittsburgh is coming off a 3-2 loss to the Washington Capitals, but how can we blame them? The Capitals have been unstoppable all season. Pre-Washington, the Penguins beat Winnipeg and Arizona by a combined 10-1 score, so perhaps Pittsburgh can recapture that kind of magic tonight? I, however, have my doubts.
Pick: Rangers (+115).
(Photo Credit: justin yamada (Originally uploaded to Flickr)[https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/])
Sports Writer
Zack is a tour guide whose favorite sports are football, baseball, and golf. He enjoys giving obnoxious commentary during games and hopes to some day write a book about sports. His favorite underdog victory was the Diamondbacks beating the Yankees in game 7 of the World Series.
