The Vegas Golden Knights enter this game having lost four of their last five games and are on a two-game losing streak which includes a 2-3 overtime loss on the road against the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the New York Rangers enter this game having lost three of their last five games and are coming off Wednesday’s 2-3 overtime loss on the road against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
BookMaker has the New York Rangers listed as -150 money line favorites at home against the Vegas Golden Knights and has set the total for the over/under plays at 6 goals. Will the Golden Knights snap their two-game losing streak or will the Rangers get the win at home? Let’s take a deeper dive into how these teams are performing this season.
The Vegas Golden Knights enter this game with an overall record of 29-17-3 and 61 points which puts them in a tie for 1st place in the Pacific Division.
Offensively, Vegas has scored a total of 155 goals this season for an average of 3.16 goals per game. The Golden Knights have a power-play success rate of 24% which is tied for the 11th-best rate in the league.
Defensively, the Golden Knights have allowed a total of 141 goals for an average of 2.88 goals per game this season. Vegas has a penalty kill percentage of 78.5% which ranks 17th in the NHL. The projected goalie for the Golden Knights, Logan Thompson, is 19-13-2 this season with a save percentage of .912 and is allowing an average of 2.71 goals per game.
The New York Rangers enter this game with an overall record of 26-14-8 and 60 points which puts them in 3rd place in the Metropolitan Division.
Offensively, the Rangers have scored a total of 151 goals for an average of 3.15 goals per game this season. New York has a power-play success rate of 21.9% which ranks 17th in the NHL.
Defensively, New York has allowed a total of 126 goals this season for an average of 2.63 goals per game. The Rangers have a penalty kill percentage of 81% which is tied for the 10th-best percentage in the league. The projected goalie for New York, Igor Shesterkin, is 21-8-7 on the year with a .918 save percentage and is allowing an average of 2.45 goals per game.
Vegas has won six of the nine games all-time in the series and has won by an average score of 3 to 2.89 in those matchups. The Golden Knights have won two of the last three games and have won by an average score of 3 to 2.67 in those contests.
The under is 4-2-3 all-time in the series with the teams combining for an average of 5.89 goals per game in those contests. The under is 1-0-2 in the last three games with the teams combining for an average of 5.67 goals per game in those matchups.
Vegas enters this game with a slightly better record and has been the better team in the series, winning six of the nine games all-time and two of the last three games. The Golden Knights have won by an average margin of .11 goals per game all-time and .33 goals per game in the last three games in the series. As a result, I am taking the money line for the Vegas Golden Knights at +130 for this matchup on BookMaker.
