New Jersey Devils at New York Rangers odds, picks and best bets

Previewing Thursday’s New Jersey Devils at New York Rangers sports betting odds and lines, with NHL betting picks, tips and best bets.

The New Jersey Devils (15-20-7) visit the New York Rangers (20-18-4) for a Metropolitan Division rivalry game in Madison Square Garden for a 7 p.m. ET puck drop. We analyze the Devils-Rangers odds and lines, while providing NHL betting tips around this matchup.

Devils at Rangers: Projected starting goalies

Mackenzie Blackwood vs. Igor Shesterkin

Blackwood lost his last two starts, including a 4-3 OT loss to the New York Islanders, dropping his record to 14-11-6 with a 2.86 goals against average and .907 save percentage. Oddly enough, Blackwood has performed better on the road this season with a 9-4 record with a 2.73 GAA and .919 SV%.

Rookie goaltender Shesterkin notched a win in his first start, despite giving up a goal on his first shot faced, by stopping 29 shots in a 5-3 win over the Colorado Avalanche Jan. 7. The 2014 fourth-round pick has been waiting in the wings to succeed G Henrik Lundqvist — Shesterkin was 15-4-3 with a 1.93 GAA in his second AHL season before being called up.


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Devils at Rangers: Odds, picks and betting tips

Odds courtesy of BetMGM; access them at USA TODAY Sports for a full set of today’s betting odds. Odds last updated at 2:55 p.m. ET.

Prediction

Rangers 5, Devils 3

Moneyline (ML)

The Rangers’ -167 is the right side of this bet but the moneyline is a stay away for me. On one hand, the Rangers have a way better moneyline balance on the season than the Devils; Rangers are +$802 compared to the Devils’ -$1,305 moneyline performance. On the other hand, the Rangers’ moneyline is terrible value.

PASS on Rangers’ -167 to win outright.

Puck Line/Against the Spread (ATS)

All the trends point to the Rangers -1.5 (+155) in this game. The home team is 4-1 in the last five meetings and the favorite is also 4-1 in those games. The Devils are 1-6 in the last seven meetings in New York. Seven of the last 10 Devils-Rangers games have been decided by two or more goals, so the puck line isn’t unreasonable.

Over/under (O/U)

Part of the reason why we’re off the Rangers -167 moneyline is why we are betting OVER 6.5 (+125). Getting a plus-betting line has me taking the Over because the Over is 7-1-1 in their last nine meetings. Neither team excels defensively with the Devils allowing the fourth-most goals and the Rangers rank 13th in goals allowed in the NHL. Also, both teams should have plenty of opportunities to light the lamp; the Rangers have allowed the second-most scoring chances against them and the Devils are ranked 12th in SCA.

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