NHL Hockey Betting: New York Rangers at Detroit Red Wings
The New York Rangers ended a three game losing streak with a 5-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night. More importantly, Henrik Lundqvist played effectively in net. He had endured a horrible streak where he’d allowed 20 goals in four games but (hopefully) he’s over his issues. For the sake of the Rangers he better be–they’re quickly letting the top three teams in the Metropolitan Division get away from them. Washington and Columbus are currently tied for the division lead with 66 points, Pittsburgh is 3 back in third. The Rangers are in fourth with 59 points–4 back of the Penguins and 7 of the Caps and Blue Jackets. They are fortunate in that the team closest to them in the rear–the Philadelphia Flyers with 50 points–is playing so poorly (2-6-2 L10). Lundqvist faces a tough schedule going forward as backup Antti Raanta is listed as ‘out indefinitely’ with a lower body injury.
The Red Wings are also without one of their two goalies as Jimmy Howard is expected to miss over a month with a knee injury. The Red wings are treading water but all they have to show for it is a three way tie for last place with Buffalo and Tampa Bay. The three teams are 2 points back of Florida, 4 back of Toronto, 5 back of third place Boston and 7 back of second place Ottawa. The Montreal Canadiens are doing a good job at maintaining their lead atop the Atlantic Division with a 9 point advantage over the second place Senators. No official word on who the Wings will start here but it’ll most likely be Petr Mrazek–he has a record of 10-11-5 with a 3.13 goals against average and a 0.985 save percentage.
The Rangers are the substantially better team and we’ll operate on the assumption that Lundqvist is back in form. The Red Wings have been very competitive in this series and hold a 4-3-0 advantage in the last 7 head to head which includes 3 straight wins at the Joe Louis Arena. They also won the only game played between the teams this series, a 2-1 verdict at Madison Square Garden on 10/19/16. Have to think that New York will be anxious to get some wins in the books and hope their goalie is back in business.
BET NEW YORK RANGERS -140 OVER DETROIT RED WINGS
