NHL Best Bet: Thursday, April 21st
The NY Islanders and NY Rangers are playing under completely different circumstances but the rivalry between the two teams always makes for a good hockey game. The Islanders are in a position to sweep the season series from the Blue Shirts but our resident NHL expert Ej Garr is saying that will not happen!
NHL Best Bet: Thursday, April 21st
- NY Islanders vs NY Rangers: NY Rangers ML
Odds as of 9 am April 21st, 2022. Odds may now differ.
NY Islanders vs NY Rangers Best Bet
April 22, 00:30 UK time
The New York Rangers are tied with the Carolina Hurricanes for the top spot in the Metropolitan Division with 106 points. Meanwhile, the Isles are completely out of the playoff picture despite having taken wins from both of the meetings against the Rangers this year.
The Rangers are certainly in good form having won 6 of their last 7 outings but this current 3-game win streak has been quite impressive. You know how scoring goals is the name of the game, right? Well, the Rangers haven’t allowed a goal during this 3-game run of wins against the Flyers (4-0), Red Wings (4-0), and Jets (3-0).
Along the way, Chris Kreider became only the 4th player in the history of the NHL to put up his first 50-goal campaign after the age of 30. Adam Graves was the last Ranger to pull off a 50-goal campaign back in the season the Blue Shirts last won the Stanley Cup in 1993/94.
Amazingly, half of Kreider’s tallies have come on the man advantage and he leads a Rangers power play that ranks 5th in the league converting just over 25% of their chances up a man.
We all know that goaltending and defence will always be the topic of conversation for teams chasing down a championship season. Igor Shesterkin is only allowing a mere 2 goals per game this season and his shutout count went from 3 to 6 with a trio of clean sheets in the month of April.
While the Rangers’ defence ranks 1st in the NHL allowing 2.4 GPG, the Islanders have been just as effective on that end of ice only allowing 2.7 goals a night this year. That’s good enough to be ranked 7th in the league but the offence has been ineffective most of the season and that is why they rank 25th in scoring while only one team attempts fewer shots on the frame than the Islanders.
Proof of their struggles on offence has stood out over the last 4 games as we’ve seen the Isles score no more than 3 goals including their win over Montreal. The only real motivation for the Islanders is to not just hand them the division title even though they are not battling for even a playoff berth.
Rivalry games like these at this point of the season can sometimes have a negative effect on the better team but this time around I see it otherwise. The Islanders are not going to sweep the season series with the Rangers and looking ahead the Blue Shirts need this win against a non-playoff team because of what lies ahead.
The Rangers will play their final road game of the season against Boston next time out and then they finish the year with 3 straight home games. One of those games will be against Carolina and that is certainly one to watch with those 2 points possibly deciding which of the two clubs takes the Metro Division title.
The Rangers take the victory tonight but it might not simply come in ordinary time. I would love to recommend the regulation line with 2.25 odds on the Rangers but it is never just that easy!
- Selection: NY Rangers to Win – Including OT
- Best odds: 1.83 (Marathonbet)
- Stakes 4/10
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