NHL Best Bet: Wednesday June 1st

The New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning face off for the right to land in the Stanley Cup Finals and our resident U.S sports expert Ej Garr is excited to keep dishing out the winners. Game 1 at Madison Square Garden means the Rangers have home-ice advantage against the two-time defending champs but will youth serve over experience?

NHL Playoffs Best Bet June 1st

• NY Rangers vs. Tampa Bay: NY Rangers Team Total Over 2.5 (OT Incl)

Odds as of 09:30 pm May 31st, 2022. Odds may now differ.

NY Rangers vs Tampa Bay Best Bet

June 2, 01:00 (UK time)

Oh, baby! That’s right, I am a Rangers fan and you probably heard me from where ever you live when the blue shirts won game 7 and advanced to this stage. That home ice thing for Carolina finally came to an end but the Rangers now face their biggest test yet. The two-time defending Stanley Cup champions have had plenty of time to rest and watch how the Rangers got here.

The Lightning has not played a hockey game since May 23 after sweeping the Florida Panthers out of the post-season. Oh, I hope you banked a good chunk of cash following my betting advice throughout that series. We can only assume that the players and coaches got together to take in the Carolina Rangers series so they could be ready for which opponent would end up here to face them in the Eastern Conference finals.

So, let’s break down some numbers and get to the tip of the night.

The Rangers are a perfect 3 – 0 vs. the Lightning this season which might come as a surprise to anyone unaware of that fact.

The blue shirts outscored the Ning 10 – 4 during the trio of regular-season affairs earning two of those wins on Tampa’s home ice.

The Tampa Bay offence ranks 8th in the league putting in 3.5 goals a game and they also rank 8th with the man advantage scoring 23,9% of the time up a man. The Lightning defence ranks 6th in the league allowing only 2.8 goals a night while they also fill the 7th spot in the rankings holding opponents’ to 29.8 shots a game.

The Rangers’ offence averages exactly 3 goals a game and that puts them at 17th in the NHL despite not taking a ton of shots. New York is ranked only 28th putting up 29.2 shots a game but their power play numbers are excellent in both the regular and postseasons. 

The Rangers only allowed 2 power-play goals to the Canes through that entire 7-game series and Igor Shesterkin is seeing beach balls right now! Shesterkin managed a 1.56 GAA in the Carolina series and we all know he is in line to possibly end up as the Vezina Award winner when that announcement is made soon. The .973 save percentage against the Canes was pretty damn impressive too! 

The Rangers need to stop this slow start stuff because they have to make valiant comebacks in each of the first two series in the NHL playoffs. Because they keep getting down early, the Rangers are now 5 – 0 in elimination games this post-season because they have been playing on the brink more often than they would like. 

If you caught Adam Fox’s interview after the game 7 win he summed up exactly how the locker room feels when dealing with those pressure situations. Fox stated, “We’re a young group of guys who are resilient and we have faith in each other. We know it takes a team effort and we know Tampa is well-rested and that could go either way.”

Fox leads all defensemen with 18 points in the playoffs and he is 4th overall behind his teammate Mika Zibanejad (19) and those two maniacs in Edmonton who keep going bonkers putting up points like butter. (Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl)

What he meant by either way was the rest can have two effects on a team because they can come out flat or come out fired up and have a built-in reason for whichever way it goes. 

Tampa has plenty of experience to rely on but 9 days away from meaning hockey will still take a minute to adjust. I don’t care how long you’ve been playing any sport or what you do in life, when you’re away from anything for a while it takes a bit to get back into the swing of things. 

By the same token, I do not doubt that Tampa Bay is going to come out with spirit and try to prove that the time off only helped them to heal and get ready for a big game 1 in New York.

With that said, I believe the Rangers will end up with 3 pucks in the back of the Tampa Bay net when the final horn sounds. The price is fair enough at 1.91 and I have another bonus tip to offer.

Will the Lightning win a 3rd straight Stanley Cup trophy?  NO! I am taking the Rangers at 2.60 to take this series and knock out the two-time defending champs so there’s that! Home-ice serves us New Yorkers well and I don’t even want to fathom how loud MSG will be tonight for this game. 

Decibel level… HIGH! Let’s go Rangers (Clap Clap, Clap Clap Clap)

• Selection: NY Rangers Team Total Over 2.5 Goals
• Best odds: 1.91 (Bwin)
• Stakes 4/10

Odds as of 09:30 am May 31st, 2022. Odds may now differ.

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