Rangers vs. Senators Game 1 Pick
Will the Ottawa Senators open their Eastern Conference semifinal with a win when they host the New York Rangers in Game 1 tonight at 7PM ET?
According to oddsmakers at Bovada.lv, New York is actually the slight favorite on the road, as the Rangers are getting odds of -115 to win, while the Senators have a money line of -105 to win. The over/under total for the game is listed at 5 goals. These two met just three times during the regular season, with Ottawa winning two of the three meetings.
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The Rangers moved on in the playoffs thanks to a 6-game win over the Canadiens in the first round. New York won the last three games of the series. The Rangers are now 52-29-7 overall and 29-12-3 on the road. New York is averaging 3.03 goals per game this season while allowing 2.58. New York had good balance throughout the first series. Mika Zibanejad led the team in the series with four points while Mats Zuccarello had three goals. Henrik Lundqvist had a save percentage of .947 in the series and a GAA of 1.70.
The Senators dispatched the Bruins in six games to open the playoffs. Ottawa won all three road games in the series and all six games were decided by one goal. The Senators are now 48-29-11 overall and 23-12-9 at home. They are averaging 2.51 goals per game while allowing 2.53 on defense. Derick Brassard led the team in the series with eight points while Bobby Ryan had four goals and seven points. Craig Anderson had a .921 save percentage in the series with a 1.94 GAA.
The Rangers are one of the best road teams in the NHL and Ottawa hasn’t been all that great at home, even in their series with Boston. The Rangers also appear to have the stronger goalie of the two entering the semifinals. I don’t tend to pick road favorites, but I feel good about New York tonight.
NHL PLAYOFFS PREDICTION: NEW YORK RANGERS -115