Caps vs Rangers NHL Spread/Handicapping
The New York Rangers return home Monday night with some work to do – down 2-0 to the Washington Capitals and struggling to find any sort of offense. The Rangers perhaps deserved a better fate in Game 2 but lost in overtime to put them in the 2-0 hole. A low scoring game is predicted once again – the teams scored a total of four goals in Game 1 and were held goal-less during regulation of Game 2.
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Washington Capitals (29-18-3-0) at NY Rangers (26-19-1-4)
When: 7:30 PM ET, Monday, May 6, 2013
Where: Madison Square Garden, New York, New York
Broadcast: TSN2, RDS2, NBCSN, CSN-DC, MSG
Washington leads series 2-0
Caps vs. Rangers Betting Lines from GTBets
Washington Capitals +1½ -260 +127 Ov 5 +124
New York Rangers -1½ +220 -140 Un 5 -136
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Rangers Return Home in Hopes of a Rebound
New York knows they absolutely need Game 3 – returning to Verizon Center for an elimination game will be a tough task indeed.
The Washington Capitals are deserving leaders in their series with the Rangers – they are outplaying, outhitting, outshooting and they are winning the uber-important special teams battles so far. Washington’s league leading power play from the regular season has scored twice in the series (28.6%) and the penalty killing unit has yet to surrender a goal in the two games – great signs going forward for the Caps.
To everyone’s surprise it has been Washington’s defense and goaltending that have been the difference so far against the Rangers. Braden Holtby has given up just one goal in the series thus far and that goal came off an opponent’s skate. He is outplaying Henrik Lundqvist – nobody could have seen that coming! Could it be that Holtby is in the Rangers’ heads? He hasn’t yielded a goal since the first period of Game 1.
The New York Rangers have gone cold in the offensive zone which has led to them being down in the series – it is the early season issues of the Rangers that have inexplicably returned to haunt them at precisely the wrong time. An ugly stat – they went the final 17:43 of the Saturday`s game, including all eight minutes in overtime, without a single shot on goal. New York is also 0-for-7 on the power play so far in the two games – not nearly good enough to win at this point of the season. [ad-4437448]
The Rangers may get a boost in Game 3 – Ryan Clowe, a proven playoff producer may return to the lineup after sustaining a concussion April 25. They could certainly use his grit, his presence on the power play and his experience in the postseason.
New York’s defense and goaltending on the other hand has been typically stellar led by the best keeper in the game – Henrik Lundqvist. He has a 1.90 GAA and a .941 save percentage in the first two games but is 0-2! It ain’t his fault that the Rangers are desperate for a win – the goal scorers need to do their job or this could be a short series.
Betting Prediction
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A few trends to consider:
• Over is 9-1-2 in WAS last 12 Mon. games.
• WAS are 8-2 in their last 10 road games.
• WAS are 2-8 in their last 10 Mon. games.
• NYR are 18-6 in their last 24 Mon. games.
• Under is 12-5-8 in NYR last 25 vs. Southeast.
• Under is 36-16-6 in NYR last 58 Mon. games.
• Under is 3-0-5 in the last 8 meetings in New York.
• Home team is 7-2 in the last 9 meetings.
The Caps finished the regular season 8-1-1 and they have won two straight in the playoffs – ya –they are on fire! The playoffs are all about goaltending and special teams – Washington has benefitted from stellar play in both aspects of the game. Brad Richards and Rik Nash have yet to hit the score sheet in the playoffs – the Rangers just can’t seem to get anything going offensively. I like Washington to keep the momentum going and to put their feet on the throats of their quarter-final foe.
Pick: Washington Capitals +127
