The New York Rangers (12-9-2) and Boston Bruins (17-3-5) will wake up early for a 1 p.m. ET puck drop at TD Garden Friday as they try to skate off some turkey. We analyze the Rangers at Bruins sports betting odds and lines, while providing NHL betting tips and picks around this matchup.
Rangers at Bruins: Projected starting goalies
Henrik Lundqvist vs. Tuukka Rask
Lundqvist is coming off his best outing of the season in which he stopped 41 of 43 shots faced for the home win over the Carolina Hurricanes. The veteran has a .914 save percentage and 3.17 goals against average to back his 7-5-1 record through 14 starts and a relief appearance.
Rask got the win in each of his last five starts and is now 12-2-2 on the year with a .931 SV% and 2.10 GAA. No goalie has more wins or shutouts (two). He stopped 33 of 34 shots faced his last time out against the Ottawa Senators.
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Rangers at Bruins: 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 Thursday at 8:40 a.m. ET.
Prediction
Bruins 4, Rangers 1
Moneyline (ML)
Bruins C Patrice Bergeron (lower body) is expected to remain out of the lineup. He hasn’t played since Nov. 23, with the Bruins winning two straight in his absence and five in a row overall coming into Friday. The Rangers are also on a season-best three-game winning streak, but each of those was decided by just a single goal.
The BRUINS (-278) are heavy favorites on home ice where they are 9-0-4 on the season. The Rangers are 4-5-0 on the road. Boston continues pacing the NHL with a league-best plus-31 goal differential with the offense, defense and goaltending deserving of equal credit. No team has scored more goals and only the Arizona Coyotes have allowed fewer. New York has a goal differential of minus-3.
Puck Line/Against the Spread (ATS)
The BRUINS (-1.5, +100) are a far more profitable play on the puck line where they’ll need to win by two or more goals for a $10 bet to turn a profit of $10.
Boston is 13-12 against the spread overall and 7-6 at home. New York is 15-8 ATS overall and 5-4 on the road. Both teams have equal rest after playing Wednesday.
Over/Under (O/U)
Take the UNDER 6.5 (-149). Rask has been one of the top goalies in the league this season and Lundqvist is beginning to show signs of his younger self. Both teams should be expected to come out a little sluggish with the early week-day start throwing them out of routine.
Esten’s NHL betting record: 86-75
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