New York Rangers at Washington Capitals odds, picks and predictions
The New York Rangers (26-12-2) and Washington Capitals (19-14-6) tangle Saturday. The opening faceoff at Capital One Arena is slated for 1 p.m. ET (ABC/ESPN+). Below, we analyze BetMGM Sportsbook's lines around the Rangers vs. Capitals odds, and make our expert NHL picks and predictions.
New York is playing its 2nd straight game on the road. The Rangers lost 5-2 at the St. Louis Blues Thursday. They have lost 3 straight games (0-2-1), allowing 15 goals in the process.
The Capitals also played Thursday; they dropped a 4-1 home game to the Seattle Kraken. Washington is just 2-5-2 over its last 9 games; the Caps have been outscored by 2 goals per game over that stretch.
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Rangers at Capitals odds
Provided by BetMGM Sportsbook; access Paste BN Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list. Lines last updated at 9 a.m. ET.
- Moneyline: Rangers -160 (bet $160 to win $100) | Capitals +135 (bet $100 to win $135)
- Puck line (PL)/Against the spread (ATS): Rangers -1.5 (+155) | Capitals +1.5 (-190)
- Over/Under (O/U): 6 (O: -105 | U: -115)
Rangers at Capitals projected goalies
Igor Shesterkin (16-10-0, 2.90 GAA, .901 SV%) vs. Charlie Lindgren (7-3-3, 2.27 GAA, .928 SV%, 2 SO)
Shesterkin started Thursday's game and allowed 4 goals on 19 shots. He owns a dodgy .828 SV% over his last 4 starts.
Lindgren has been an effective back-up this season, but the 30-year-old (upper body) had been on injured reserve for a week before being activated Tuesday. In a 21-day stretch from Dec. 9-29, Lindgren clocked a .938 SV%. He owns a .932 SV% across 8 home games.
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Rangers at Capitals picks and predictions
Prediction
Rangers 5, Capitals 3
Moneyline
The Rangers (-160) are the lean, but the return on a possibly loose game with a healthy New York margin makes for the best play. PASS.
Puck line/Against the spread
The Rangers have way better puck-possession analytics of late than they do goals-for and goals-against totals. Each of the last 6 games in this series has been decided by multiple goals (4 New York wins, 2 Washington wins). Five of those 6 games had a margin of 3-plus goals.
Recent road troubles for New York did not come on shuttle trips like this one.
TAKE THE RANGERS -1.5 (+155).
Over/Under
The last 5 Rangers-Caps games have netted a 4-0-1 mark for the Over. The total has gone Over in 9 of the Rangers' last 11 games.
New York has been leaky of late, and the potential is there for a likely-overrated-anyway Lindgren to scuffle after a layoff if Saturday is indeed his return day.
In general, Washington does not create enough high-quality shots in 5-on-5 play, but when it does, it has perhaps been somewhat unfortunate to post a low conversion rate in turning those looks into goals.
The playing-on-1-day-of-rest split does not offer up encouraging defensive numbers on either side. And both penalty-killing units have been generous of late.
FanDuel Sportsbook has this total at 5.5. BACK THE OVER 5.5 (-130).
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