New York Rangers vs Washington Capitals NHL Picks, Odds, Predictions 2/4/21
2021-02-04 19:00:00 EDT
The Washington Capitals and the New York Rangers meet in NHL action from Madison Square Garden on Thursday night.
The Washington Capitals will look to bounce back from a 5-3 loss to Boston last time out. Nicklas Backstrom has a team-high 13 points, leading the Caps with 5 goals and 8 assists while John Carlson has 11 points with 4 goals and 7 assists. Jakub Vrana and Tom Wilson each have 8 points with Wilson logging 4 goals and 4 assists while Vrana has 3 goals with 5 assists. Alex Ovechkin and T.J. Oshie each have 7 points with 2 goals and 5 assists apiece while Justin Schultz has 6 points with 2 goals and 4 assists. Vitek Vanacek has picked up 5 wins in 8 starts with a 2.94 GAA so far this season in goal for Washington.
The New York Rangers will look to build on a 3-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins in their last matchup. Artemi Panarin leads the Rangers in scoring with 12 points coming on 5 goals and 7 assists while Pavel Buchnevich has 7 points with 2 goals and 5 assists. Adam Fox has 6 points with 5 assists while Phil Di Giuseppe has 5 assists. Ryan Strome, Chris Kreider and K-Andre Miller each have 4 points with Kreider logging 4 goals while Strome has 2 goals with 2 assists and Miller has a goal and 3 assists. Igor Shesterkin has 2 wins with a 2.41 GAA while Alexandar Georgiev has a 1-3 record with a shutout and a 3.27 GAA this season.
Washington is 5-11 in their last 16 road games and 2-5 in their last 7 Thursday games while the over is 4-0 in their last 4 games against a team with a losing record. New York is 3-10 in their last 13 games overall and 2-5 in their last 7 home games while the under is 7-0 in their last 7 games against a team with a winning record. Washington is 7-2 in the last 9 meetings between these two teams.
This line is confusing me a little bit, as New York started as a favorite and is now level with Washington, but seeing this matchup I would’ve thought Washington would be favored. Either way, I’m sticking with the Caps here. They’re playing heads and shoulders better than the Rangers up to this point in the season and Ilya Samsonov and Evgeny Kuznetsov being out of the lineup hasn’t hurt this team as it’s been next man up and the Caps continue to get the job done. New York’s goaltending has had a bit of a sophomore slump from Igor Shesterkin and Alexandar Georgiev hasn’t been stellar, enough to give the Caps the edge here. Give me Washington in this one.
