Ahhh yes, one of the most wonderful times of the year is once again upon us. Rangers-Islanders. With just roughly 2 months of hockey remaining before the playoffs, every game is becoming more and more important and every point counts. That being said, these two teams could really use the 2 pts tonight. The Rangers are currently sitting in a playoff spot but could definitely widen the point gap between them and the second wild card spot. The islanders are scratching and clawing their way into the playoff picture now currently only 3 points back of a wild-card spot.
Call me crazy but the way the Islanders have responded to the firing of Capuano, I don’t see how they don’t make it into the playoffs. Scraping together an 8-3-2 record since the firing, I won’t say they figured “it” out, but they are certainly on the right track and a win tonight could be a huge confidence boost. Yes, I know. I don’t wanna hear the “but the Islanders just got smoked Tuesday 7-1”. I don’t care, that gives me more of a reason to think the isles will step up tonight for this one. It also is good to note that the islanders have pretty much controlled the W column against the Rangers in recent games (5-1 in the last 6 meetings).
Now we still need to talk about the boys in blue (technically white for tonight’s game). The Rangers have had a pretty good February going 6-0 defeating a couple tough teams in Columbus and at home against Anaheim. The one distinct quality I’ve noticed watching the rangers this year is their ability to respond quickly when letting up a goal. Yeah, there has been a couple of stinkers mixed in, but all in all the rangers have seemed to figure it out recently and have been impressive in their last 11 going 9-2. With a rested Henrik Lundqvist ready to go it’s hard to see how they don’t show up tonight and steal one in the Barclays.
So with all of these stats to digest its time for the question on everyone’s mind: what bets should I make tonight? Who will win tonight? The truthful answer is I have no earthly idea. I can see this game going a billion different ways and I would not be surprised at any outcome. It could be a 1-0 win for either side or a 5-0 win and I could say at the end “ya know what I guess I could have seen that coming”. That’s the beauty of these two teams coming together to play, literally, anything can happen. What I do see happening is an overtime W for the Rangers’ 4-3. The Rangers D is a little on the sloppy end and I see the islanders taking advantage. However, their offense is fast, quick and likes to shoot so that should mean more goals than the other team.
By the way, if I was a betting man I would take the over at 5 or 5.5 goals. Maybe a little parlay action with the penguins/jets over.
