The New York Rangers will look to continue their recent dominance of the Philadelphia Flyers, as the teams meet on Tuesday night in a game that can be seen on NBCSN. The Rangers have won six of the last seven against the Flyers and six of the last eight in the series at MSG. This will be the first meeting between the teams this season. Both teams are battling to stay in contention in the Metropolitan Division, so this is another key matchup.
At 7 p.m. ET, tune into NBCSN for live television coverage of this NHL game on Tuesday, January 16, 2018, at Madison Square Garden.
We'll have NHL odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the NHL Tuesday schedule.
Odds Analysis
The Rangers will be listed as home favorites in this game and they will have the edge in terms of the series trends, but recent play definitely favors Philadelphia. The Flyers have won four straight to move back into contention in the Metropolitan Division. There is only five points separating seven of the eight teams in the division.
The big key for the Flyers of late has been their goaltending. Both Brian Elliott and Michal Neuvirth are playing well. Elliott was really good in December, going 8-4-1 with a 2.15 GAA and .927 save percentage. He hasn’t been quite as good in January, but the Flyers just had their bye week and he should be rested.
The Flyers are 9-11 on the road, with 10 games going over, nine going under, with one push. The Flyers are scoring 3 goals per game and giving up 2.8 per contest.
The Rangers have all the looks of a team that is not going to make the playoffs. They were blown out 7-2 by the Islanders on Saturday and then they traveled to play the Penguins in Pittsburgh on Sunday. If the Rangers don’t get great goaltending, they usually don’t win. The pressure is squarely on head coach Alain Vignaeault to get his team going. After the loss to the Islanders, winger Mats Zuccarello said to the New York Post that the team was dumb. “It’s not what we stand for. It might look like we don’t care or we don’t give 100 percent, but that’s what it looks like when you’re dumb.” It could be that the Rangers will be forced to make a head coaching change if they don’t turn things around in a hurry.
The Rangers are 15-11 at home, with 15 games going over, 10 going under, with one push. They are scoring 3 goals per game and giving up 2.8 per contest.
Special Teams
The Flyers have a major weakness and that is their penalty killing. They are just 28th in the NHL on the penalty kill at 74.8%. They are 6th on the power play at almost 22%. The Rangers are 17th on the power play at almost 19%, while they are 5th in penalty killing at nearly 84%.
Key Stat
These two division rivals have not met since last season when the Rangers took three of four. New York has won six of the last seven meetings overall, with three of the last five going under. The Rangers have taken 7 of the last 10 at home in this series, with three of the last four going under the total.
Free NHL Picks
The current form is definitely with the Flyers, as they are on a four-game winning streak, but the Rangers have owned this series. I am tempted to take a shot at plus money on the Flyers, but I will avoid a side and look at the total. Despite Elliott playing better of late I still don’t totally trust him and cracks are starting to show with Lundqvist and Pavelec for the Rangers. I will take this game over the total.
NHL Odds: Rangers 4, Flyers 3
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