NHL Hockey Betting: Ottawa Senators at New York Rangers
The New York Rangers will host the Ottawa Senators on Sunday night at Madison Square Garden. The Rangers have had a tough time of it lately. Actually, they’ve had a tough time of it ever since Montreal took their manhood in 5-1 loss to the Habs on November 25. Montreal lost starting goalie Carey Price to injury but otherwise dominated the game. At the time, the Rangers and Canadiens were tied for first place in the Eastern Conference. Since then, the Habs have comtinued to win without their starting goaltender while the Rangers have nose dived. Were it not for a win over Carolina on November 30 the Rangers would be on a six game losing streak. As it stands, they’ve lost 5 of 6 which isn’t much better.
Ottawa, meanwhile, has been playing decent hockey of late. The Senators have won six of their last eight games and are now just one point behind second place Detroit in the Atlantic Division and eight points back of first place Montreal. Ottawa played–and won–last night topping the New York Islanders 3-2 on their home ice. Worth noting that the Senators have lost 3 of 4 this year when playing in the second of back to back games. Kyle Turris is listed as ‘doubtful’ for this game. The Rangers continue to play without center Derek Stepan and that’s a serious problem–he’s the catalyst of their offense and a solid defender. With Stepan out of the lineup the Rangers are having trouble scoring goals and particularly on the power play.
The Rangers have dominated head to head play in this series winning 5 of the last 7 meetings but the breakdown of this record is more interesting. New York is 4-0 at Ottawa during this stretch. Ottawa actually holds a 2-1 edge in the last three games at Madison Square Garden. The back to back situation is a slight concern but at the end of the day sports handicapping is about finding value. There’s no way that the Rangers should be a -190 favorite over a good Ottawa team in their current form. We’ll take the price with the Senators and hope that the Rangers continue to struggle.
