NHL Betting Pick: Senators/Rangers Game 6

The Ottawa Senators can be the second team to advance to the Stanley Cup semifinals with a victory tonight at Madison Square Garden over the Rangers. Ottawa carries a 3-2 series lead into Game 6 after posting a dramatic come-from-behind 5-4 overtime win over the Rangers Saturday in Game 5.

Senators/Rangers Game 6 Odds

For updated odds, visit our Live Odds page

3 Things To Know About The Senators

  • After losing their previous two games of this series in New York by 4-1 scores, and having lost 4 of their last 5 trips to Madison Square Garden overall, the Senators are shaking things up a bit. The team held an optional practice yesterday and their biggest adjustments weren’t to their struggling power play, it was to their seating arrangement in the visiting dressing room.
  • Goals against should be a concern for the Senators. They’ve allowed 17 goals to New York in the last 4 games (even though they managed to win two of them). Craig Anderson has stopped just 124 of the last 141 shots he’s faced (an .879 save percentage).
  • Five of the Senators’ seven wins so far in the playoffs have come in overtime. They’ve also had to come from behind in a lot of games. So far in this series, Ottawa has held the lead for just 13 minutes and 10 seconds.

3 Things To Know About The Rangers

  • New York has scored the first goal in every game of this series. In each of their three losses so far, the Rangers held the lead with three minutes to go in regulation time.
  • Don’t expect the Rangers to panic in this must-win situation. New York’s Henrik Lundqvist is the active leader among goalies when it comes to both playoff games and playoff wins, and the Rangers team has played the most playoff games in the NHL since 2012.
  • After going just 21-16-4 at home during the regular season, New York is 4-1 at home in the playoffs. Ottawa, however, won three games at Boston last round and is 25-19-2 on the road this year.

Senators/Rangers Betting Pick

The thing the Rangers have consistently done in this series is score goals. They’ve also been a high-scoring team all year at home, averaging 3.09 goals per outing at MSG.

But with the way New York has blown leads in this series and how Ottawa continues to fight back, I don’t want to risk a moneyline bet on the Rangers, or even New York to win in regulation time (odds on that are -101 at www.Pinnacle.com).

At the same time, it’s possible the Rangers slam the door defensively on the Sens, as they did in Games 3 and 4 when they allowed 1 goal to Ottawa each night, so the Over 5 is a bit of a riskier play as well.

Let’s just count on the Rangers to put some pucks in the net, regardless of what Ottawa does in this game. It’s a bit pricier than I’d normally like, but I suggest a bet on the New York Rangers Team Total Over 2.5 -145 at Pinnacle.

(Note: If you want to reduce your risk on this bet, consider betting the Rangers Team Total Over 2.5. If New York doesn’t score a goal in the first five minutes of the first period, you can probably get this bet in the -110 to -120 range. See our article on NHL live betting strategies for more information about hockey live betting.)