Blackhawks vs Rangers Hockey Odds
The Chicago Blackhawks will make the trip over to legendary Madison Square Garden to take on an Original Six rival on Thursday in the New York Rangers. The game marks the first for both sides since the NHL resumed play following the Olympic break.
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Chicago Blackhawks (35-11-14) at New York Rangers (32-24-3)
Date: Thursday, February 27, 2014
Time: 7:00 PM ET
Venue: Madison Square Garden
City: New York, New York
O/U Odds: 5.5
Money Line: Chicago -125, New York +115
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Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews, and assistant captains Duncan Keith and Patrick Sharp all return from Sochi with gold medals after helping Canada to its second consecutive gold in the Olympics. Meanwhile, Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist was on the flip side, returning with a silver medal after losing to the Canucks as a member of Team Sweden. Interestingly enough, it was Toews who scored the winning goal on Lundqvist in the gold medal game for Canada. Rangers forward Rick Nash was one of the Canadians who took home gold, while forward Carl Hagelin took home a silver medal for Sweden.
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While those players bring back some extra hardware, the Rangers will be missing one of its players, as Mats Zuccarello, the team’s leading scorer with 43, will be out for two to three weeks with an injury suffered in Sochi.
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Interestingly enough, it was the Blackhawks who sent a league high-tying 10 players to the games, spread out over five countries, with seven of them playing the maximum of six games, yet their roster remains intact.
The Rangers surely weren’t happy to see the Olympic break come up, as the team went into the break with wins in five of their final six games, and eight of their last 11. Surprisingly, a lot of that was accomplished on the road, with the team winning their final six road contests and eight of their final nine away games heading into the break, while splitting their final six home games.
As for the Blackhawks, they went into the break on a 3-1-1 run. The team was shut out in its last game before the break, getting blanked by Phoenix. They’ll look to turn that around on Thursday when they go up against the Rangers’ backup goaltender, rookie Cam Talbot. Talbot has been strong with a 1.79 GAA, but that’s been compiled in cherry-picked matchups – this will be a major step up in class. The Blackhawks will be sending out Corey Crawford, who posted a 1.59 GAA in his final five games before the break.
Few teams rely as heavily on their goaltender as the Rangers do on Henrik Lundqvist. With that being said, Olympic goalies have not fared well, if they played at all, in the first two days of action since the Olympic break, so the Rangers could be at a significant disadvantage in this one with their backup goaltender facing off against the high-flying Blackhawks.
The Blackhawks are 6-2 in their last eight games against Metropolitan Division opponents.
The play: Chicago -125
