The Toronto Maple Leafs (28-18-7) battle the New York Rangers (25-22-4) in a 7:30 p.m. ET contest at Madison Square Garden Wednesday. We analyze the Maple Leafs-Rangers odds and lines, while providing NHL betting tips around this matchup.
Maple Leafs at Rangers: Projected starting goalies
Michael Hutchinson vs. Igor Shesterkin
Hutchinson is Toronto’s primary goaltender with Frederik Andersen on the shelf (upper body injury). With Andersen’s heavy workload, Hutchinson had only appeared in a dozen games prior to his starts on Saturday and Monday. The latter of those two turns was a shaky effort at Florida which got the 29-year-old journeyman pulled after 37 minutes. On the season, Hutchinson owns a 3.62 goals against average and an .886 save percentage.
Shesterkin has been tremendous since joining New York Jan. 6, logging a 2.51 GAA and .927 SV% in four games. The Russian rookie is one of the top goalie prospects in the NHL. He’s made all his starts at Madison Square Garden where he appears to be quite comfortable.
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Maple Leafs 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 10:20 a.m. ET.
Prediction
Toronto 5, New York 3
Moneyline (ML)
Shesterkin has been quite good, but his work thus far is still a small sample. The Maple Leafs have been quite good in bounce-back/revenge spots. They’re coming off a 5-3 loss to Florida (Monday) are were downed by the Rangers, 5-4 the last time the two Original Six foes met (Dec. 28).
Will PASS on Toronto -139 straight-up for the better expected value in the puck line play.
Puck Line/Against the Spread (ATS)
New York is a robust 17-11 against the puck line at home, but Toronto has gone 15-11 ATS on the road. The Maple Leafs are 3-1 over their last four games, and they’ve averaged 4.1 goals per game since Dec. 23.
The Rangers have been solid against the top-five scoring teams in the league (5-5-1), and their puck-possession figures of late are impressive. But the price on the Leafs is attractive, and a TORONTO -1.5 (+185) play is advisable.
Over/Under (O/U)
The 6.5 total here has some underpinning analytics that would make it a decent play at Over -110. When the Rangers play teams in the top five in scoring, the average goal total has been 8.5. The OVER 6.5 (-110) is a strong play.
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