Rangers vs. Kings Pick
Are the New York Rangers and host Los Angeles Kings going to play a defensive, low-scoring contest tonight at 10:30PM ET?
According to oddsmakers at Bovada.lv, the Kings are a -165 favorite to win on the spread line. The Kings are a +145 underdog, while the total is set at 5.5 goals. As of Sunday afternoon, 60 percent of public bets have come in on the Kings.
New York enters with a 24-18-1-4 following a 3-1 loss Saturday at the Avalanche. Los Angeles is 24-17-5-0 after a 2-1 loss Friday night at the Ducks. The Rangers won the first meeting this season on their home ice Dec. 15 by a count of 4-2. New York is 3-0 in three meetings since the start of last season, while the under has gone 2-1.
In the loss at Colorado, Pavel Buchnevich scored the lone goal for the Rangers on assists from Ryan McDonagh and Mats Zuccarello. Henrik Lundqvist made 34 saves on 36 shots in the losing effort. The goal by Buchnevich pulled New York within 2-1 at the 13:05 mark of the second period, but the Rangers would not score again and Colorado put it away with an empty-net goal in the closing seconds.
Los Angeles was paced by Alex Iafallo as he scored the lone goal at Anaheim, his third of the season on assists from Anze Kopitar and Jake Muzzin. After two scoreless periods, the Ducks took a 1-0 lead early in the third before Iafallo tied it up a couple minutes later. Anaheim would eventually score the game-winner with 7:39 left. Jonathan Quick recorded 29 saves on 31 shots to take the loss.
The over is 3-1-2 in the last six meetings in Los Angeles and 5-2-1 in the last eight meetings overall. Los Angeles is 0-5 in its last five home games.
Both teams have strong goal tennders and have offenses that struggled last game. I think this game will again showcase those areas and this one will be a low-scoring game decided late, perhaps in overtime or a shootout. Take the under.
NHL DAILY PREDICTION: RANGERS/KINGS UNDER 5.5