NHL Hockey Betting: New York Rangers at Toronto Maple Leafs
The New York Rangers are struggling having lost 3 straight and are 5-5-0 in their last ten games. They’ve fallen into fourth place in the Metropolitan Division and face a very tough test as they head to the Air Canada Centre to take on the red hot Toronto Maple Leafs. Toronto is 8-1-1 in their last ten games and have moved into a third place tie in the Atlantic Division just two points back of second place Boston and ten back of the division leading Montreal Canadiens. The Rangers are 7 points up on fifth place Philadelphia, 8 points up on sixth place Carolina and 9 up on seventh place New Jersey. They trail third place Pittsburgh by 4 points and Metro Division co-leaders Columbus and Washington by 7 points.
Goaltending is usually a strength for the Rangers but they’re not in a good situation at the moment. The first part of the problem is Henrik Lundqvist who is in uncharacteristically poor form. Lundqvist allowed 7 goals on 27 shots in Tuesday’s 7-6 loss to Dallas–he was mercifully pulled before the third period. That was his third straight loss and he’s been in horrific form allowing 20 goals in his last four starts with a miserable .843 save percentage. Part two of the problem is that they pretty much *have* to keep playing Lundqvist as his capable backup Antti Raanta is out for another week with a lower body injury. Their only other option is recent AHL callup Magnus Hellberg and for now he’s not going to see any playing time. Lundqvist has already been confirmed for this game. He’ll most likely face Toronto’s Frederik Andersen who h as played very well this year with a 19-9-7 record and a 2.68 goals against average with a 0.918 save percentage.
Toronto isn’t the team that Lundqvist wants to see if he’s struggling between the pipes. The Maple Leafs are #5 in team offense scoring 3.12 goals per game. Of course the Rangers are #2 in the league putting up 3.47 goals per contest. Toronto is #19 in scoring defense (2.81) while the Rangers have slipped to #17 (2.71). Toronto won the only previous meeting this season, taking a 4-2 verdict at Madison Square Garden on 1/13/17. Until Lundqvist cleans up his act we’ll be going against the Rangers.
BET TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS -115 OVER NEW YORK RANGERS
