- The moneyline reads Tampa Bay Lightning -145 against the New York Rangers +125, with a total of 6.
- Tampa Bay finished 50-26-6 with a +57 goal differential last season, 71 goals better than New York’s 34-39-9 and -14.
- Andrei Vasilevskiy posted a .911 save percentage and Igor Shesterkin .912 last season, but Shesterkin faced 2.3 more shots a game.
- The Rangers’ power play converted 24.65% last season, fifth in the NHL, against a Tampa Bay penalty kill that ranked third.
NEW YORK – A Rangers team that has yet to score this season opens its home schedule Thursday at +125 against the -145 Tampa Bay Lightning, two nights after a 3-0 shutout loss in Boston. Faceoff at Madison Square Garden is 7 p.m. ET.
Tampa Bay’s Price Matches Its Road Record
Nikita Kucherov’s 130 points helped Tampa Bay score 286 goals and allow 229 last season, while New York scored 235 and allowed 249.
The Lightning went 24-12-5 on the road, a 58.5% win rate that sits almost exactly on the 59.2% a -145 price needs to break even. The Rangers at +125 need 44.4%, yet they won 41.5% of their games overall and 34.1% at home, where they went 14-20-7. Tampa Bay’s price tracks its record, and New York’s asks for more than last season’s results delivered.
New York’s Tuesday opener at Boston was priced at -110 apiece in the Rangers-Bruins opener preview, and the Rangers lost it 3-0.
Moneyline, Puck Line, Total And Stanley Cup Odds
The game is one of eight on Thursday’s NHL schedule, and the full set of prices sits on the legal sports betting board.
Moneyline
- Side
- Tampa Bay Lightning
- Odds
- -145
- Implies
- 59.2%
Moneyline
- Side
- New York Rangers
- Odds
- +125
- Implies
- 44.4%
Puck line
- Side
- Lightning -1.5
- Odds
- +178
- Implies
- 36.0%
Puck line
- Side
- Rangers +1.5
- Odds
- -215
- Implies
- 68.3%
Total 6
- Side
- Over
- Odds
- -103
- Implies
- 50.7%
Total 6
- Side
- Under
- Odds
- -117
- Implies
- 53.9%
Stanley Cup
- Side
- Tampa Bay Lightning
- Odds
- +1200
- Implies
- 7.7%
Stanley Cup
- Side
- New York Rangers
- Odds
- +8000
- Implies
- 1.2%
The puck line asks Tampa Bay to win by two or more at +178. Rangers +1.5 cashes on a New York win or a one-goal loss, and it costs 2.15 units to win 1.
The total of 6 sits between the 6.28 goals Tampa Bay games averaged last season and the 5.90 in Rangers games. The under is the heavier side, a vote for the goaltending over last season’s scoring.
In NHL betting futures, Tampa Bay is the sixth choice for the Stanley Cup at +1200, and the Rangers at +8000 are a longer shot than the Boston Bruins, who just beat them.
Rangers Outshot Boston 24-23 And Still Lost 3-0
All three Boston goals came inside a 75-second stretch of the third period: Fraser Minten at 16:14, JJ Peterka at 17:06 and Mark Kastelic at 17:29 with the net empty.
Jeremy Swayman stopped all 24 shots he faced, and neither side scored until Minten’s goal with 3:46 left. Pavel Dorofeyev led the Rangers with five shots, and the power play went 0 for 1. A 24-save shutout is goaltending variance, not a verdict on a team that put up more shots on goal than its opponent.
Rangers’ Power Play Is Their Upset Path
New York’s power play scored on 24.65% of its chances last season, 53 goals on 215 opportunities. That was fifth in the NHL, but 215 was the fourth-fewest chances, so the unit was efficient and rarely used.
Tampa Bay hands out penalties, with 258 times shorthanded last season, more than three a game, yet its kill stopped 82.6% of those situations, third in the league. The chances will come against a strong unit. Oliver Bjorkstrand, who scored nine power-play goals for Tampa Bay last season, now plays for the Rangers.
Goalies Sit At .911 And .912 But Face Different Volume
Andrei Vasilevskiy went 39-15-4 with a 2.31 goals-against average over 58 starts last season, and Igor Shesterkin went 25-19-6 with a 2.50 average over 51. Vasilevskiy faced 25.6 shots a game and Shesterkin 27.9, so a near-identical save percentage leaves the Rangers’ goalie with more work.
Neither team had confirmed its starter Thursday morning. Vasilevskiy and Dennis Hildeby are the goaltenders listed in the Lightning’s game notes, and Shesterkin started Tuesday’s opener for New York. New York plays at the Detroit Red Wings on Friday night, the second half of a back-to-back, while Tampa Bay’s next game is Saturday at home against the Washington Capitals.
