Metro Division Rangers Host Pacific Division Leading Canucks

After nearly completing a three-goal comeback in Montreal, the Rangers return to Madison Square Garden against the Pacific Division leading Vancouver Canucks (7:00PM on MSG).

Rangers	Rankings	Canucks
26-10-2	Record	25-11-3
2nd	League Rank	4th
11th	Goals For	1st
6th	Goals Against	4th
1st	Power play	9th
5th	Penalty Kill	22nd

Previous Game

New York is coming off a 4-3 defeat to the Montreal Canadiens in the shootout. The Rangers found themselves down 3-0 early into the second period, before tying the game midway through the third period. The story of the game was the stellar play of Montreal netminder Sam Montembeault who recorded 45 saves to improve to 4-0-1 lifetime against the Rangers. Jonathan Quick recorded 27 saves suffering defeat for the third-straight time.

Rangers vs Canucks

If you were told at the beginning of the season that a western-Canadian team was leading the Pacific Division and they were the top goal scoring team in the league – most people probably would have guessed it would be the Edmonton Oilers. Instead, it is their rival in Vancouver who has this honor of being one of the most feared teams in the league as the season inches closer to the halfway marker. The Rangers found this out earlier this season when they defeated the Canucks 4-3 in overtime despite being outshot by nine.

Casey DeSmith made the start for Vancouver back in October, but this time the Rangers will see Vezina Trophy candidate Thatcher Demko. Demko is 19-8-1 with a .916 save percentage on the season. The former Boston College goaltender is 2-0-0 lifetime against the Rangers with a .931 save percentage.

Leading the way on offense for the Canucks is former Ranger J.T. Miller. Miller was selected by New York 15th overall in 2011 and was ultimately traded with Ryan McDonagh during their rebuild back in 2018. Miller has 53 points in 39 games and is well on track for a new career high in points (previous career high was 99) and to eclipse the 100 point mark for the first time in his career. Miller’s 53 points puts him for the 7th most in the league entering play on Monday night.

Vancouver has three additional players above 40 points. Quinn Hughes has 49 points on the season, whereas Elias Pettersson has 48. Brock Boeser leads the team with 24 goals and the American winger has 41 points on the season. Vancouver has four players total who have greater than 40 points whereas the Rangers have just one in Artemi Panarin who has 55 points.

Panarin is currently on a seven-game point streak and he has multiple points in three of the past four games. With 25 goals scored, Panarin finds himself tied for fourth in the NHL with Zach Hyman of the Oilers.

Igor Shesterkin will be back in goal for New York. The Russian netminder has won six of his past seven starts for the Rangers. Shesterkin’s save percentage currently sits at .908 on the season.

Kaapo Kakko continues to make progress on his return to the lineup. While still in a non-contact jersey, Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette told the Rangers media on Monday “Kakko has no real restrictions,” and that he is close to “ditching the non-contact jersey.”

The Blueshirts are expected to start with the same lineup and line combinations as they have in the previous two games. The bottom-six of the Blueshirts found themselves with fewer chances on the ice in the third period as the Rangers were looking for an equalizing and winning goal.

“I wasn’t trying to cut anybody’s ice or message anything inside of that,” Laviolette said. “We’re just trying to get points in the hockey game. We needed to score”

The bet of the night – We went with Chris Kreider getting an anytime power-play point against Montreal and while the value and circumstances leading up to the game were good; it unfortunately didn’t end up hitting. While a good bet would be an anytime point for Vancouver’s J.T. Miller given what former Rangers have done against them in 2024, we are going to take Alexis Lafreniere to record over 2.5 shots at +100 odds. Lafreniere has been over this in each of the previous three games. You could also take Kreider at over 2.5 shots and Panarin at over 3.5 shots as they too have been over those numbers in each of the previous three games. But Lafreniere gives you the best odds and a $5 bet will pay $10 for a profit of $5.

Current record: 14-8

Current Money Total (Based on $5 bets) – We are up $40.70 on the season