The Pittsburgh Penguins have been ridiculously hot. They won 14 of their last 16 games overall, and it's really not fair to include a completely meaningless loss to the Flyers on the last day of the regular season when Sidney Crosby and a few others rested. In the playoffs though, everyone is 0-0, and the New York Rangers are going to hope to start off their new season in a winning way Wednesday night in the 'Burgh.
Stanley Cup Playoff Odds at BookMaker.eu
New York Rangers +115
Pittsburgh Penguins -135
ODDS ANALYSIS
The Pens were actually dogs when these two teams met at the Garden a couple weeks ago, but as they ride hotter and hotter, their respect level goes up and up. They're -135 favorites in this game at home.
GOALIE REPORT
The Penguins are in an interesting spot right now in net. Jeff Zatkoff is the only healthy goalie with any NHL experience on the roster. Tristan Jarry was just called up from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to be the backup because both Marc-Andre Fleury and his backup, Matt Murray are hurt.
Fleury will be back at some point in this series from a concussion suffered at the end of March, but whether that point is Wednesday or not remains to be seen.
The Rangers have no such questions in goal. It wasn't the best year ever for Henrik Lundqvist at 35-21-7 with a 2.48 GAA and .920 save percentage, but the list of goalies you'd rather have than him this time of year is rather short.
Lundqvist has allowed at least three goals in nine of his last 13 starts though, and that could be a real issue in this series as well as Pittsburgh’s offense has recently played.
LIVE BETTING
It's not just that Pittsburgh has been scoring a ton of goals of late that's so alarming. It's that it has been scoring so many late goals. The Penguins have put up 20 goals in the third periods of games since March 11 (not including the meaningless game with Philly) against just five allowed.
No matter whether you're live betting games or straight betting them, scoring in the third period and overtime is crucial, and if you can do that, you're going to win a lot of games. The Pens are doing just that, and they're keeping their own net clean, and what's most impressive about the latter part is that Murray was in net for six of those games.
QUICK PICK
Though the goaltending situation worries us just a bit for Pittsburgh, we still think it should have enough offense in this one to overcome its potential shortcomings.
Sid the Kid is well rested, and though he doesn't have the injured Evgeni Malkin, he hasn't exactly needed him of late either. Phil Kessel, Patric Hornqvist, Chris Kunitz and former Ranger, Carl Hagelin have been fantastic to help him out, and of course, Kris Letang is one of the best scoring defensemen in the league.
This series could get out of hand for the Rangers if they're not careful at the back, especially with Dan Girardi banged up and Ryan McDonagh certainly out. This could be a long night in Game 1 for Lundqvist.
NHL Odds: Penguins 6, Rangers 2
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