Coming off a 7-3 beat down at the hands of the Boston Bruins on the shores of Lake Tahoe Sunday, the Philadelphia Flyers will look to rebound at home against the New York Rangers on Wednesday night.
The Rangers skated away with a 3-2 overtime win against the Flyers last week in their first NHL betting matchup of the season.
NHL odds have the home Flyers as slight -120 favorites with the total opening at 5.5 and trending upwards.
Here are our free picks and predictions for New York Rangers vs. Philadelphia Flyers for Wednesday, February 24 (7:00 p.m. ET).
New York Rangers at Philadelphia Flyers betting preview
Injuries
Rangers: Kaapo Kakko F (Out), Artemi Panarin F (Out), Jacob Trouba D (Out), Filip Chytil F (Out).
Flyers: Travis Konecny F (Out), Scott Laughton F (Out), Oskar Lindblom F (Out), Jakub Voracek F (Out), Justin Braun D (Out), Claude Giroux F (Questionable).
Find our latest NHL injury reports.
Betting trend to know
The Under is 7-1 in the Rangers’ last eight matches. Find more NHL betting trends for Rangers vs. Flyers.
NHL sharp money and line movement report
By Patrick EversonPhiladelphia went up as a -126 favorite Tuesday night at FanDuel and bounced around from there, going up to -142, then back to the opener this morning, then up to -134, where the moneyline rests at 1:45 p.m. ET. The Flyers are attracting 77 percent of early bets and 70 percent of early cash. The total opened 5.5 (Over -120) and is now 5.5 flat (-110 on Over/Under) on two-way play, with 57 percent of bets/55 percent of money on the Over.
Check out the full line movement for this gameMoneyline pick
To say the Flyers will be shorthanded Wednesday would be an understatement. Captain Claude Giroux is questionable for tonight, but even if he does play, Philly will still be missing four of the team’s top nine forwards.
With all the injuries and juggled lines, Flyers’ head coach Alain Vigneault rolled four lines against the Bruins on Sunday with no forward hitting 20 minutes of ice time. Even though they were playing on an outdoor rink, the Flyers still were outshot 35-19 and gave up some soft goals with the Bruins finishing with just 3.23 expected goals—but winning 7-3.
In the two games that they've played after missing 11 days due to COVID protocols, the Flyers have managed just five goals on 41 shots. This is a team that’s getting the least amount of shots at the net in the NHL.
The Rangers are coming off one of their best games this year – a 4-1 win in Washington – and are riding a two-game winning streak. They’ve allowed more than two regulation goals just once in their last eight games and should have an easier time scoring against the Flyers, who surrender 3.27 goals against per game, even without leading scorer Artemi Panarin.
New York starter Igor Shesterkin is just 4-6 SU this year but his peripherals prove the goalie should have better luck in the win department. His 2.23 goals-against average and .922 save percentage are way above league averages and the netminder’s play is a big reason the defensive-minded Rangers sit seventh in the league in goals allowed per game at 2.56.
The Rangers won’t be easy to score against, especially for a group as overachieving and banged-up as the Flyers.
PREDICTION: Rangers ML (+100)
Over/Under pick
The Flyers have enjoyed plenty of success with the Over this year, going 10-5 O/U and they are coming off a 7-3 loss where the Over cashed late in the second period. But a closer look at the team’s scoring production shows possible regression around the corner.
The Flyers lead the league in shooting percentage at 14.61 percent. This is despite the fact that they are dead last in shots on net and shots attempts per game. Since 2015, the best single-season shooting percentage was 12.17 percent, with the top team averaging 10.9 percent over those five seasons and the league average over that time a mere 9.28 percent.
Simply put, Philadelphia can’t keep this pace up and is due for an offensive slump.
The Rangers will also be without some potent scorers in Panarin and Kaapa Kakko. While Kakko has been slumping this year with just three points, the loss of Panarin – the team’s leading scorer – is big. The Russian leads his team in ice-time at both 5x5 and on the PP and New York has scored just a pair of goals in the two games that Panarin has missed this year.
New York starting Shesterkin between the pipes tonight is more good news for the Under. Across the goalie’s last eight starts, the Under is 6-1-1. Shesterkin has allowed two or fewer goals in six of his last seven outings and sits in the Top 10 in goals saved above average, GAA and traditional SV% (minimum seven starts).
New York hasn’t hit an Over on the road since January 22, a span of six games, and is 1-5 O/U when traveling this year. The Flyers are also 2-4 O/U at home in their last six games, despite sitting sixth in goals per game and 26th in goals allowed.
We’d wait to get the Under closer to game-time as the total is trending up and hopefully off the 5.5 to 6.
PREDICTION: Under 5.5 (-105)
Rangers vs Flyers betting card
- Rangers ML (+100)
- Under 5.5 (-105)
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