Rangers Look to Keep The Good Times Rolling Against Visiting Penguins

Will the Rangers get the win when you make your bet online as they look to continue their climb up the standings or is Pittsburgh the pick to snap their modest skid as an even-money pick on the road?

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Pittsburgh Penguins vs New York Rangers

• When: Thursday, April 8, 2021, at 7:00 p.m. ET
• Where: Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
• TV: ESPN+, MSG, ATTSN-PT
• Radio: WEPN

NHL Odds

New York -125
Pittsburgh +105
Total: 6

Penguins Giving Away Goals Like Halloween Candy

The Penguins have dropped two straight after winning its previous four games. Pittsburgh was on the wrong end of an embarrassing 8-4 smackdown loss against the Rangers on Tuesday night. The Penguins (24-13-2) have allowed 15 goals in their past two games, including a 7-5 loss at the Boston Bruins on Saturday.

“It just looks like we are kind of lost [defensively],” Pittsburgh forward Jared McCann said. “We are giving up chances we are not normally used to giving up. We are letting our goalies down right now and giving teams backdoor tap-ins and shots from high-grade areas. We need to tighten it up. We are not going to sit here and whine about it, let’s learn from it.”

Pittsburgh is averaging a healthy 3.3 goals per game (8th) on 29.7 shots per game (19th). Defensively, the Penguins are limiting the opposition to a modest 2.8 goals per contest (14th) on 29.7 shots per contest (14th).

Jake Guentzel leads Pittsburgh with 17 goals. Sidney Crosby has 29 assists and Bryan Rust has 118 shots on goal. Net-minder Tristan Jarry has a 2.91 goals-against-average and Casey DeSmith has a 2.30 GAA. The Penguins have gone 8-10-1 on the road this season.

Rangers Finding Ways to Win

The Rangers have won six of nine and are finding ways to win, both offensively and defensively. New York has scored five goals in two of their last six wins and eight goals in two other contests, including Tuesday’s 8-4 rout of Pittsburgh.

Artemi Panarin had a goal and three assists, and Adam Fox had a goal and two assists on Tuesday night. Colin Blackwell, Mika Zibanejad, Ryan Strome, Alexis Lafreniere, Kaapo Kakko, and Pavel Buchnevich also scored for New York, which extended its point streak to four games (3-0-1). Igor Shesterkin made 42 saves in his fourth consecutive start.

“We’ve got a great group of guys in there,” Fox said. “We have a pretty young team and a hungry team. We only have so many games left and we’re trying to make a push for the playoffs. Everyone in there is hungry. This is the fun part of the year. Every point matters.”

New York is averaging 3.3 goals per game (7th) on a modest 29.5 shots per contest (23rd). Defensively, the Rangers are limiting the opposition to 2.7 goals per game (11th) on 28.9 shots per contest (11th).

Chris Kreider leads New York with 17 goals. Adam Fox has a team-high 31 assists. Igor Shesterkin has a 2.36 goals-against-average and Alexandar Georgiev has a 2.92 GAA.

Back the Rangers to Double Up on Penguins

The Penguins are 8-2 in their last 10 games playing on 1 day’s rest and 5-2 in their last 7 overall, but Pittsburgh is also 2-8 in its last 10 games as a road underdog. On the flip side of the coin, the Rangers are a perfect 4-0 in their last 4 home games and 8-2 in their last 10 games as a favorite.

Pittsburgh has gone 10-4 in the last 14 road dates against New York, but the home team is 5-0 in the last four meetings while the favorite is 6-0 in the last six meetings. I like the Rangers to scratch out the hard-fought home win, although I’m expecting Pittsburgh to put up much more of a fight than they did on Tuesday night.