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Posted at 2:00 PM EST.

7:00 PM EST. Regulation only. The only thing we can say about the Rangers that we haven’t said yet is that we missed the fade on them last game when the Bruins whacked them, 6-1. We insisted in early October that this was a brutal team and even suggested to bet them to miss the playoffs (see our future bets) and once again, we were way ahead of the curve. This past week, the Rags waived Brendan Smith after signing him to a 17M deal over four years. Rumors are swirling around core players like Ryan McDonagh and Mats Zuccarello. The Rags came out and publicly admitted that they are going to clean house so now, all eyes will quickly turn to the roster players who have a good shot at being traded in the next few weeks. McDonagh and Zuccarello are two, but unrestricted free agents Rick Nash, Michael Graber, Nick Holden and David Desharnais all could be moved as well. Beyond that, J.T. Miller, Kevin Hayes, Jimmy Vesey and Brady Skjei are all restricted free agents this summer and could be moved also. Henrik Lundqvist has been yanked four times in his last seven game and the Rangers have allowed 32 goals against in their last seven games. This is an unstable squad with a lot of uncertainty surrounding them. Lundqvist might be moved too so perhaps that’s contributing to his troubles lately too. We’re not sure what is going to motivate the Rags to play well and even if they do show up, they’re garbage.

Calgary will make the short trip from The Rock to MSG after a hard fought 3-2 victory last night and will play its third game in four days and tail-end of back-to-backs. That’s a tough situation and one the market likes to fade but we’re not going to concern ourselves with it. For one, the lower price on the Flames reflects the situation. Secondly, winning brings energy and the Flames are coming off back-to-back wins over Chicago and combined with last night’s win over the Devils, that’s three in a row after losing six straight. The Flames possession numbers have ranked high for weeks. Playing at MSG is motivating enough, as players always look forward to playing at the world’s most famous arena and that especially holds true for Western teams that don’t get the chance often. The Flames are in a great state of mind while the Rangers and its goaltending are as mentally fragile as can be. 

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