The Ottawa Senators have been living on the edge this series. Ottawa’s three wins against the New York Rangers have all been by one goal, with two of those coming in overtime, but are up 3-2 regardless. Now the Senators will have the opportunity to close out the Rangers on the road on Tuesday night. A win would put them back in the conference final for the first time in 10 years and keep their hopes of bringing the Stanley Cup back to Canada alive.
Don’t miss the action on the ice from the Madison Square Garden in Manhattan at 7:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday, May 9, 2017. Catch every moment of the game live on NBCSN. We will have NHL playoff hockey odds at BookMaker.eu for every postseason game.
NHL Playoff Odds at BookMaker.eu
New York Rangers -170 / Over 5 -115
Ottawa Senators +148 / Under 5 -105
If the Rangers are looking for reasons to be optimistic, they don’t have to look for long. The home team has won every game thus far in this series and New York has wiped the floor with Ottawa in the two previous meetings in MSG. The Rangers won both games 4-1 and jumped on the Senators early with seven goals in the first two periods of both games.
New York has won four straight home playoff games if you include last round’s results and the play of Henrik Lundqvist has been superb at home. He has a 1.42 GAA and a .947 save percentage in five home games this postseason and the Rangers will rely on their long-time goaltender to carry the day here.
Player to Watch
Craig Anderson’s play in the postseason hasn’t been at the same level as it was during the regular season. He was pretty respectable against Boston in the first round, but the story in that series was just how well his defense played in front of him. Anderson only saw an average of 27.5 shots a game against the Bruins despite four of the six games going to overtime.
Following a solid Game 1, Anderson hasn’t been nearly as effective in this series. He has allowed 16 goals over the last four games and hasn’t posted a save percentage higher than .900 yet against the Rangers. However, despite the struggles, the offensive outburst that we have seen from Ottawa has given this team a real shot of life.
Key Stat
Neither one of these power plays has really been able to get going yet in this series. The Rangers have had more opportunities than the Senators have, but have converted on just two of their 20 chances on the man advantage. Meanwhile, the Senators haven’t scored a power play goal in four games and have just notched one score in 16 chances.
Neither of the penalty kill units were that great in the regular season, with both teams allowing opponents to score on 20 percent of their chances, but have ramped it up this series.
Free NHL Playoff ATS Picks
Offensively, it was a team effort for the Rangers in the regular season and that theme has continued into the playoffs. In 11 games, no player has more than seven points, but nine different Rangers have five points or more. Every single line on this team is a threat to score when they are on the ice and that means defensemen can’t take shifts off.
New York is a little unlucky to be behind the eight ball in this series with how it has played. The Rangers blew a late lead in Game 5 and have looked on the whole better than the Senators. With their season on the line, this Rangers team is going to play its best game yet. Lundqvist will play great in net and the Rangers will win big to force Game 7.
NHL Playoff Odds: Rangers 5, Senators 2
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