We get some afternoon NHL action on Friday as the New York Rangers visit the Philadelphia Flyers on NBC. The Rangers have been rolling this season with a high powered offense and they lead the Metropolitan Division while the Flyers are struggling to stay in contention in the division. The Rangers have dominated this series of late taking 7 of the last 10 including the last three. Recent meetings have also been low scoring with none of the last five going over the total.
Don't miss the ice action from the Wells Fargo Center at 1 p.m. ET on Friday, November 25, 2016. Catch every moment of the game live on NBC.
We'll have NHL odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the NHL Friday schedule.
Odds Analysis
The Rangers should be listed as slight road favorites with the total at 5.5. Both teams had Thursday off and played on Wednesday so there is no advantage in terms of rest. This is the first meeting between the teams this season.
New York has been a good road team this season going 6-3 while the Flyers are just 5-6 at home. The Rangers are scoring a lot of goals as they lead the league in goals per game at 4 per contest. They should have success against a Philadelphia team that is giving up 3.3 goals per game, most in the NHL. It could be a high scoring contest as the Flyers are fourth in the league in goals per game.
Special Teams
The Rangers are 9th in the league on the power play at 21.7%. New York needs to continue to do well on the power play because they are just 16th in the league in shots per game and they are only 18th in faceoffs. The Rangers have been solid on the penalty kill at 85.5% which is 8th in the league. New York is 5th best in goals against at 2.3 per contest.
The Rangers have suffered a tough blow as Mika Zibanejad is out for the next four to six weeks with a broken fibula.
The Flyers are scoring plenty of goals as they average 3.2 goals per game and the power play is a big reason why as the Flyers are 2nd in the league on the power play at 27.1%. The problem for Philadelphia is on defense as they allow 3.3 goals per game, worst in the league. They are just 24th on the penalty kill at 79.7%.
The Flyers suffered a big loss on Tuesday as their top defensive forward Sean Couturier was injured. He suffered some sort of lower body injury and isn’t expected back anytime soon. Couturier has five goals and eight points in 20 games and he is a key penalty killer.
Goalie Report
The Rangers have a clear number one starter in Henrik Lundqvist who is 9-6 on the season with a 2.27 goals against average. They also have a capable backup in Antti Raanta who is 5-0 this season with a 2.04 goals against average.
The Flyers have Steve Mason as their starting goaltender but his numbers haven’t been that great as he is 5-9 with a 2.96 goals against average. Michael Neuvirth is injured so the current backup is Anthony Stolarz who was supposed to get his first start of the season on Tuesday.
Free NHL Picks
The Rangers have won the past three meetings in this series with two of the three games ending 3-2 while the other game was 3-1. The last three meetings between the teams have ended in 3-2 final scores with the Rangers winning two of the three.
The Rangers are the better team and they have done really well in this series of late. I will lay the price with New York and also play the game over the total.
NHL Odds: Rangers 5, Flyers 2
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