Rangers vs Caps NHL Spread/Handicapping
The New York Rangers and the Washington Capitals have each held serve in their own building so far in their Eastern Conference quarter final series. Now the series moves back to Washington where the Rangers scored just one goal in the first two games of the series.
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NY Rangers (28-19-1-4) at Washington Capitals (29-20-3-0)
When: 7:30 PM ET, Friday, May 10, 2013
Where: Verizon Center, Washington, District Of Columbia
Broadcast: TSN, RDS2, NBCSN, MSG, CSN-DC
Series tied 2-2
Rangers vs. Caps Betting Lines from betonline.com
New York Rangers +1½ -260 +124 Ov 5 +100
Washington Capitals -1½ +220 -137 Un 5 -110
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Capitals and Rangers Return to The Nation’s Capital for Game 5
But momentum is clearly in their side at the moment – New York is coming off two straight 4-3 wins and has obviously found a scoring touch that abandoned them in the first two games against the Caps.
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The New York Rangers have certainly benefitted from an uptick in offensive production and they have gotten typically and predictably solid goaltending from none other than Henrik Lundqvist.
Offensively the Rangers have been getting contributions from their secondary players. Brad Richard and Rik Nash – the highest profile Rangers each have just one assist so far in the four games of the series. Derik Brassard has five points over the past two games to lead the Rangers, Derek Stepan scored the winning goal in each of the past two games, Carl Hagelin had three points in Game 4 and Brian Boyle has been one of the best faceoff men in the playoffs – he won 25 of 37 faceoffs over the past two games. Mats Zuccarello has three points in two games and Taylor Pyatt has two points in his last two games. As mentioned – it isn`t the top flight guys that are getting it done – it is the support players that have been carrying this team.
We know the Rangers will be able to count on Henrik Lundqvist – he is the best in the game and very rarely disappoints. Henrik is 2-1-0 in his last three games with a 2.23 GAA and .929 save percentage.
The Washington Capitals had it all going until the series moved to Madison Square. The struggles can be traced back to Alex Ovechkin who was terrific in the two games in Washington but was limited to no points and three shots on goal in Games 3 and 4. The Caps go as Ovi goes and in New York he clearly wasn`t engaged. [ad-4437448]
Washington has scored six goals in the last two games but has nothing to show for it. As mentioned, it aint Ovechkin, Nik Backstom or Marcus Johansson that have gotten it done. Mattieu Perreault scored his first two career goals in the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Wednesday and Joel Ward was had a pair of assists in Game 4 to pace the Caps. Mike Green has continued his torrid pace however with four points in the series and Jason Chimera has two points in the last two games. But if the Caps hope to avoid another playoff collapse they will need their best players to be their best players.
Caps goaltender has arguably been the better of the two keepers in the series believe it or not. Braden Holtby has a 2.20 GAA and .927 save percentage so far through four games – better numbers than those of King Henrik!
Betting Prediction
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A few trends to consider:
• Over is 4-1-4 in NYR last 9 Fri. games.
• NYR are 2-7 in their last 9 Fri. games.
• Over is 5-2-3 in NYR last 10 vs. Southeast.
• WAS are 9-1 in their last 10 home games.
• WAS are 13-4 in their last 17 overall.
• Under is 5-2-2 in WAS last 9 Fri. games.
• Under is 8-2-7 in the last 17 meetings.
The Washington Capitals are known for choking at this point of a series – they are just 10-20 all-time in Game 5s! Unreal. I see the trend continuing – the Caps just don’t look like a confident bunch right now. The Rangers were built for the playoffs and will prove it Friday night. Henrik Lundqvist has yet to steal a game in the series so far – it happens in Game 5!
Pick: New York Rangers +124
