Two of the top teams in the NHL meet on Sunday on NBC as the Washington Capitals visit the New York Rangers. It is a huge slate of games on Sunday, which is Hockey Day in America and the day starts with the league’s top team, the Capitals visiting the Rangers. The four best teams in the Eastern Conference just happen to reside in the same division with the Capitals leading the Metropolitan Division while the Rangers are battling with the Penguins and Blue Jackets for second place.
At 12:30 p.m. ET, tune into NBC for live television coverage of this NHL game on Sunday, February 19, 2017, at Madison Square Garden.
We'll have NHL odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the NHL Sunday schedule.
Odds Analysis
This is the second game of a three-game road trip for the Capitals and the second half of a back-to-back as they were in Detroit on Saturday. Normally it is a concern for a team playing with no rest but in this situation the Capitals should be just fine as they had their bye week before the game against Detroit. And it has become obvious this season that teams oftentimes struggle in their first game after a bye and do much better in the second game. The Capitals are 15-11 on the road this season with 12 games going over, 7 going under with 7 pushes.
The Rangers have had two days off since playing at the Islanders on Thursday. The Rangers are 18-12 at home this season with 16 games going over the total, 11 going under with 3 pushes.
Special Teams
The Capitals are a high scoring team that averages 3.4 goals per game which is 2nd in the league. They are 4th in the league on the power play at 22.2%. They are 3rd in penalty killing at 84.5%. They are the top team in the league in goals against as they are giving up just 2.1 goals per game.
The Capitals have been simply on fire in 2017 as they have outscored opponents by a combined 95-44. They have given up more than three goals in a game just three times in 2017. The team is simply dominating opponents on a regular basis. They lead the league in a number of statistical categories including Corsi percentage, which estimates a team’s possession rate.
The Rangers are 15th in the league on the power play at 20% and they are 3rd in goals per game at 3.4 per contest. They are 11th in penalty killing at 82.1% and they are 10th in goals against at 2.6 per game.
Goalie Report
It should be the two starting goaltender in this game with Braden Holtby going for Washington while Henrik Lundqvist starts for New York. Holtby is 29-12 with a 2.02 goals against average while Lundqvist is 26-14 with a 2.68 goals against average. Both teams have capable backups in Grubauer and Raanta but it should be the starters in this one.
Free NHL Picks
This is just the second meeting between the teams this season as the Rangers won 4-2 in Washington in October. New York has won six of the last ten in this series with five of the last six going over the total. The Rangers have won six of the last ten at home in the series with the last three going over.
Both Washington and New York have played really well lately so I will avoid picking a side. I do think there will be some value on the total as both teams are potent offensively and the Rangers defense simply isn’t that good. It also helps that this has been a high scoring series of late. I will go with the trends and take this game over the total.
NHL Odds: Capitals 4, Rangers 3
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