The New York Rangers have won 8 straight playoff home games. Vegas isn’t impressed. Despite the streak, they’ve priced the Blueshirts as slight Underdogs for tonight’s pivotal Game 5 at MSG.
The Lightning are arguably the better team, but tonight’s pricing also reflects a degree of uncertainty around NYR’s lineup. 2 of their top 3 centers are listed as game-time decisions (Ryan Strome and Filip Chytil).
- If one or both of those players can’t go, it would serve a blow – albeit not a fatal one – to NYR’s chances at extending their home winning streak.
- If Strome and Chytil do suit up, I lean NYR on the ML at plus money. But given the uncertainty, I didn’t place any moneyline bets yet.
I also lean Under 5.5 on the Game Total. This reflects my expectation NYR goaltender Igor Shesterkin is in for a big game tonight. He’s been stellar at home in the playoffs, posting a 2.04 goals against average and 0.948 save percentage. If NYR stays disciplined and limits TBL’s Power Play opportunities, I like Shesterkin’s chances at stealing this game tonight or at least keeping it low scoring.
I didn’t place any moneyline or game total bets yet but wanted to share my leans, since I often get asked.