The Boston Bruins will look to rebound against the New York Rangers on Sunday afternoon after the Blue Shirts embarrassed the B’s 6-2 on Friday.
Boston is finishing the month off on a sour note as the East Division-leading Bruins are 1-4 SU in their last five and have been outscored 23-15.
Oddsmakers have the home Rangers as +145 underdogs with the total opening at 5.5 and shaded to the Over.
Here are our free picks and predictions for Boston Bruins vs. New York Rangers for Sunday, February 28 (12:00 p.m. ET).
Boston Bruins at New York Rangers betting preview
Injuries
Bruins: Kevan Miller D (Questionable), David Krejci F (Questionable).
Rangers: Artemi Panarin F (Out), Kaapo Kakko F (Out), Jacob Trouba D (Out), Filip Chytil F (Out).
Find our latest NHL injury reports.
Betting trend to know
The Under is 10-2 in the Rangers’ last 12 games playing on one day of rest. Find more NHL betting trends for Bruins vs. Rangers.
NHL sharp money and line movement report
By Patrick EversonThe Bruins opened as -166 favorites at FanDuel on Saturday afternoon, stretched as far as -184 a couple of times and are at -176 about 30 minutes before today's noon ET puck drop. Ticket count and money are both running in the 3/1 range on Boston. The total opened 5.5, with the price on the Over spending a few hours overnight at -120 before going back to the opening price of -115. The Over is landing 73 percent of bets/72 percent of money.
Check out the full line movement for this gameMoneyline pick
Since drubbing the Flyers a week ago in the outdoor game 7-3, the Bruins have dropped back-to-back games for the second time since Valentine’s Day and were outscored 13-4 in those two defeats. The 1-4 SU run is the worst stretch of hockey the first-place Bruins have produced this year, but at -167 on the moneyline, they're offering zero discounts.
Both Boston goalies have been shelled of late. Tuukka Rask has allowed 13 goals across his last three starts, while backup Jaroslav Halak has surrendered 10 in his last two. Both veteran goalies will find their groove again but right now they are playing their worst hockey of the season.
This month, the usually stingy Bruins are giving up 3.2 goals per game which is in sharp contrast to their 2.22 GAA in January and league-best 2.39 GAA mark a season ago.
New York is coming off their best offensive game of the season, despite missing its leading scorer in Artemi Panarin. The Rangers got goals from each of its four lines and have potted a power-play goal in four straight games. We aren’t expecting another beatdown, but the Rags have proven they can hang with the Bruins as they have outscored Boston 8-6 across three matches this year.
New York will go with goalie Alex Georgiev again on Sunday. The young Russian goalie has won back-to-back starts for the first time this year and has stopped 50-of-55 Boston shots over two starts (1-1 SU).
Georgiev and the Rangers held the Bruins to under 2.00 expected goals on Friday and have covered the +1.5 spread in 15 of their last 17 games.
New York may sit sixth in the East Division, but this young squad has played a ton of close games this year. Boston will eventually snap out of this slump but at +145, at home and on Sunday afternoon, we have to take the value on the home team.
PREDICTION: Rangers ML (+145)
Over/Under pick
New York’s six-goal performance on Friday was a season-high as the Rangers are a bottom-10 team in goals per game this year. New York caught the B’s on the backend of a back-to-back Friday and Boston was coming off a 7-2 loss to the Islanders, without much time to regroup. With a full day off and time to digest a pair of ugly losses, Bruce Cassidy’s veteran team should bounce back defensively Sunday afternoon.
The first two matchups yielded a total of six goals and at +100 for the Under 5.5, we’re getting one of the best prices Boston has seen on a total of that size all year — the B’s have not seen a total higher than 5.5 this season.
New York has been one of the best Under teams with a 6-12 O/U mark on the year. The Rangers are in the bottom-10 in the league in goals scored per game at 2.67 while also holding their opponents to the league’s seventh-lowest mark at 2.61 per contest. Missing Panarin is a big loss for this offense, which can’t expect to get goal support from all four lines consistently.
We’re betting on the Bruins to come out much sharper than their two previous outings and with both clubs sporting Top-10 penalty-killing units, goals could be at a premium in a game that could lack flow and chances with the noon puck drop.
We’re suckers for an early game Under.
PREDICTION: Under 5.5 (+100)
Bruins vs Rangers betting card
- Rangers ML (+145)
- Under 5.5 (+100)
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