New York Rangers at Tampa Bay Lightning Betting Preview
29 December 2022
The New York Rangers travel to Tampa Bay to take on the Lightning in the marquee matchup on Thursday's NHL schedule. Both teams enter this matchup having won three of their last five games, while Tampa Bay is playing on back-to-back nights after a 4-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens.
The favorite is 5-0 in the last five meetings, and the under is 6-0 in the previous six, while the home team is 6-1 in the last seven games between the Rangers and Lightning. The Rangers won the first of three head-to-head matchups with the Lightning 3-1 on October 11th.
The Rangers are Crawling Out of Early Season Struggles
The New York Rangers have a 19-12-5 record, ranking them fifth in the Metropolitan Division, one point behind Pittsburgh and Washington, who are tied for third. The Rangers have lost two of their last three games. New York has hit the over of 6.5 goals in three of the last five games, while four games ended in at least a 1.5 goal spread.
The Rangers are 5-1 in their last six road games and 8-2 in their previous ten games overall. The under is 10-2 in New York's last 12 games against the Atlantic Divison. The Rangers are 1-4 over the previous five meetings with the Lightning.
Artemi Panarin leads the Rangers' scoring attack with 41 points (nine goals, 32 assists). New York is ranked 16th in scoring, averaging 3.2 goals per game. The Rangers' powerplay is ranked 17th in the NHL, converting at 21.9%. The penalty killers are the slightly higher-ranked of New York's special teams, ranking 13th overall and killing 80.2% of the Rangers' penalties.
The Rangers are ranked 10th in goals-against, averaging 2.8 goals-against per game. This is almost entirely because of 2021-22 Vezina Trophy winner Igor Shesterkin (17-6-4, 2.47 GAA, .915 SV%) performing consistently and improving throughout the season. Shesterkin should get the start over Jaroslav Halak (2-6-1, 3.04 GAA, .890 SV%) and gives the Rangers a chance to win every night.
The Lightning Are Quiet Contenders in the East Again
While the Carolina Hurricanes, Boston Bruins, New Jersey Devils, and Toronto Maple Leafs have stolen the Eastern Conference headlines this season, the three-time reigning Eastern Conference champions are quietly emerging as contenders to claim a fourth straight conference championship. The Lightning have a 21-11-1 record, ranking them third in the Atlantic Division.
Tampa Bay hit the over once in the previous five games, while all five games ended with at least a 1.5-goal spread. The under is 5-1-1 in Tampa's last seven games against the Eastern Conference and 4-0 in the last four meetings between the Lightning and Rangers in Florida.
Tampa Bay's offense is ranked third in the league averaging 3.6 goals per game, with Nikita Kucherov (13 goals, 37 assists), Steven Stamkos (16 goals, 22 assists), and Brayden Point (19 goals, 15 assists) as the usual suspects leading the way. This trio, along with Mikhail Sergachev, is a significant part of the Lightning's powerplay success, which is ranked sixth overall and converting on 26.9% of their opportunities.
Tampa Bay is also getting good defensive and goaltending efforts. The Lightning are ranked 13th overall, giving up 2.9 goals per game, while the penalty killers are ranked seventh in the NHL and operating at 81.7% efficiency. Tampa Bay has a number one goalie and backup dynamic, yet both Brian Elliot (7-2-0, 3.31 GAA, .894 SV%) and likely starter Andrei Vasilevskiy (14-9-1, 2.47 GAA, .918 SV%) have been solid and provided wins for the Lightning all season long.
Rangers vs. Lightning Betting Prediction
The Tampa Bay Lightning are the moneyline favorite, but here at the Dunkel Index, we are favoring Igor Shesterkin and the hot New York Rangers to take advantage of the Tampa Bay Lightning playing on back-to-back nights and win this game.
We anticipate this being a close one-goal game, but with the Rangers getting the win and the game hitting the over of six total goals.
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All Media on this page by Associated Press.
