The Chicago Blackhawks head to Madison Square Garden to take on the New York Rangers at 7pm this evening. The Blackhawks and Rangers each come in on two days rest after the Blackhawks won in Minnesota and the Rangers won in Toronto on Saturday.
The Rangers, who are still without star forwards Marian Gaborik, Chris Drury and Vaclav Prospal have gotten off to a (5-4-1) start to the season, which is very respectable considering they have been without several key players in this span. New York has struggled at home thusfar with a (1-3-1) record through their first 5 home games. Lundqvist stopped 36 shots in a shutout win over the Leafs on Saturday for his first shutout of the season. The Rangers will need a similar performance tonight if they have any chance at defeating the defending champions.
The Blackhawks have played the most games of any team in the league (13), which has masked the fact that the team is only 1 game above .500. The Blackhawks record thusfar in the season is (7-5-1), which isn’t spectacular considering they are the defending champs. Marian Hossa has been the teams best player to this point in the season, but he is out for two weeks with an upper-body injury. Dave Bolland also joined the list of injured ‘Hawks on Saturday when he was scratched with a day-to-day upper-body injury. These are two very important players for the Blackhawks and it will be interesting to see if the team is still deep enough to battle through injuries to key players. The Blackhawks are (3-1-1) on the road this season.
Blackhawks vs Rangers Odds
Chicago Blackhawks +100 (Bookmaker.com)
New York Rangers -120 (Bookmaker.com)
The Rangers are slight favourites in this game, which can only be due to the fact that the Blackhawks are without Hossa and Bolland. I’m still surprised at this line considering the Blackhawks have a solid road record and the Rangers have shown difficulty winning at home this season. Gaborik and Drury are both key ingredients for that team and their forward depth is not strong. The Blackhawks will win this game much more than 50% of the time making a wager on the Blackhawks a sharp bet this evening.
My Pick: Chicago Blackhawks +100
This is the only sharp NHL betting line I see tonight. We had a very good weekend here at NHL Betting Tips improving our free picks record to (11-3) for +8.56 units. Check back daily for more free NHL betting predictions!
Tagged with: Chicago Blackhawks • New York Rangers