Arizona @ N.Y. RANGERS
Arizona +150 over N.Y. RANGERS

BEST LINES: Pinnacle -1½ +382 Bet365 -1½ +365 SportsInteraction N/A  5DIMES -1½ +370

BEST LINES: Pinnacle +149 Bet365 +150 SportsInteraction +150 5DIMES +150

Posted at 12:00 PM EST 

Before we begin and until further notice, we’re going to be splitting up our NHL underdogs into two bets. We’re playing them straight up for 1 unit and we’ll be playing them on the reverse puck line (-1½) for 1 unit, thus making up our traditional 2 unit bet. The thinking is that if the dog loses, we lose our bet anyway. If the game goes into OT, which is a coin-toss anyway, we lose our -1½ bet but have a chance to profit a pork-chop if we happen to get lucky and win it in the extra time. If our team is winning by a goal, we know for sure we’ll get a crack at an empty netter and there is also a good chance that if our team is ahead, it might be by more than one goal anyway. Therefore, our bet for this game and every dog we play will be -1½ for 1 unit and straight up for one unit.

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7:05 PM EST. OT included. The best thing for the Rangers right now will be to get out of town and they’ll do exactly that after this game, as they head to Montreal for a game on Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday. The Rags have dropped four of five on this current six-game home stand. Being at home for such an extended stretch is about the worst thing possible for a struggling team. Instead of hanging out together while being on the road, they all head home after practice. Losing is frustrating enough and we can assure you that this road trip can’t come soon enough. The Rags have other issues too. First, they have allowed the second most scoring chances per game (23.4) in the league. That’s an alarming number that neither Henrik Lundqvist (900 save %) nor Andrej Pavelec (.853 save %) has been able to bail them out of. Pavelec is tonight’s starter but let us remind you that he was Winnipeg’s fourth string goaltender last year when the Jets goaltending was awful. The Rangers Corsi numbers, both individually and as a team are awful too. Only Mika Zibanejad has good Corsi numbers while the rest are average or well below.

Defensively, Ryan McDonagh is dinged by a negative goal differential, negative penalty differential and a lack of offense thus far. Brandan Smith Smith Brady Skjei have struggled in the puck possession game with a minus-18 and minus-31 Corsi differential, respectively. A lot of those bad defensive numbers might be driven by the Helter Skelter changes of defense pairings executed by Alain Vigneault but it is what it is. The Rags have lost six of their last seven with their only win over that span coming against Nashville in a game the Rags mustered 15 shots on net in. To give you an idea how bad the Rags are playing, they are second in the NHL in shooting % so they’ve had great luck around the net.

Poor Arizona. Without a win yet this season, here’s a team that’s playing well enough to win but its goaltending has been horrible and so has its puck luck. While we do not subscribe to the “due to win” or “due to lose angle”, we know for sure that the Coyotes are not the worst team in hockey. The Coyotes played an incredibly solid possession game against the Islanders on Tuesday, but unfortunately allowed a John Tavares hat trick to the tune of a 5-3 loss. The ‘Yotes have now outshot five of their last six opponents. They outshot the Islanders 35-25 and lost. When you are possessing the puck more than your opponent and outshooting them too, the wins will follow. Adding to Arizona’s misery is that Antti Raanta has been out of the Coyotes net since Oct. 12 after sustaining a lower-body injury. Louis Domingue has been doing the most heavy lifting for the Coyotes since Raanta went down, but he’s 0-5-0 with an .858 save percentage. Tuesday's game didn't help Domingue's status either, as he allowed five goals on 25 Islanders shots. We’re not going to worry about that though. Our focus remains playing value over results and Arizona is playing well enough to be at least a .500 team but their poor results have them grossly underpriced.

The bets are as follows:

Arizona -1½ +382 for 1 unit

Arizona +149 for 1 unit

Open an account today at Pinnacle Sports and take advantage of their -104 style pricing on sides and totals, which is 60% better than other sportsbooks.



Our Pick

Arizona +150 (Risking 2 units - To Win: 3.00)

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Chicago +167 over Ottawa