The Pittsburgh Penguins take on the New York Rangers in a battle of East Division foes on Saturday night.
The Rangers have had a decent start to their season, coming off a tough Buffalo series that ended Wednesday in a split. The team’s No. 1 pick in 2020, Alexis Lafreniere, recorded his first NHL point, and it was an overtime goal.
Lafreniere has gradually become more of a focal point for the Rangers since veterans Chris Kreider and Mika Zibinijad have been struggling out of the gate.
The Penguins are coming off back-to-back losses to the Bruins this week. Sydney Crosby has yet to find a rhythm this season, as he has only recorded two points in the past four games and only has seven points for the whole season so far.
His linemates, Jake Guentzel and Evgeni Malkin, have also struggled mightily, but luckily for the Penguins, they’re one of the deepest teams in the league. They’ve managed to stay afloat because of guys like Bryan Rust and Kris Letang.
Broadway Alex
The Rangers might have finally found a player that can carry their franchise like a Connor McDavid or a Crosby in Lafreniere. His ice time has gone up in almost every game this season unless it was a blowout, and it’s huge to know that he got crucial ice time in an overtime game.
The other young star for the Rangers is coming into his own, too, as Kaapo Kakko averages about 15 minutes of ice time and has two goals on the season.
The veterans for the Rangers have really struggled, along with the team’s goalies. That’s why the Rangers can’t find any sort of rhythm or get any kind of momentum.
Kreider and Zibinijad have combined for four points on the season, and both of the team’s goalies allow three goals against per game. It’s hard to win games when your goalies give up a ton of goals and your offense can’t produce enough to keep up.
Crosby Doing All He Can
The Penguins have also had some of the same struggles, as their goalies are inconsistent, and most of their veterans haven’t found their footing this season yet. Crosby last scored a goal 11 days ago and was held without a point and only five shots on goal for two whole games against the Bruins.
Evgeni Malkin has also had his fair share of struggles, tallying only three points this season and watching his ice time slowly deteriorate to almost second-line action.
The Penguins are one of the better teams covering the spread as underdogs, though. They have covered in three of their last six matchups.
What bodes well for them going forward is that with the impact of the pandemic, each team plays the same seven teams all season long so they can make adjustments along the way. The last time these two teams played, the Penguins won both contents but failed to cover the 1.5-goal spread in either game.
The Penguins’ moneyline against the Rangers is pretty much a lock, but I would stay away from the Penguins’ puck line spread of -1.5.
Game Prediction
The moneyline for this game has the Penguins at -115. The over/under has been set at 6.5 goals.
My pick of the night is taking the Penguins to win this one, as well as the under of 6.5.
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