The New York Rangers and Pittsburgh Penguins play the second half of a two-game miniseries and second of four games in a ten-day span on Sunday night. The Penguins won Friday’s game 4-3 in a shootout.
- Date/Time: January 24, 7:00 p.m. ET
- Arena: PPG Paints Arena
- TV Coverage: ESPN+
- Sportsbook Odds: Penguins -140 | O/U 6.5 (Line History)
- Rangers vs Penguins (Matchup Report)
Sportsbook Odds Analysis
The game opened with the Penguins as favorites at -140 and the line has settled into the -128 to -140 range. The total is locked in at 6.5 and UNDER was the heavy favorite, but the line has shifted to even odds between the OVER and UNDER.
New York News & Notes
Amid a bit of an up and down start to the season, the New York Rangers have now outshot and had more high-danger scoring chances than their opponent in three straight games. Despite the 1-2-1 record to start the year, the underlying numbers paint a fairly pretty picture for the Rangers, and it may be a sign of their high-end talent finally starting to shine through.
Young stars Kaapo Kakko and Adam Fox had their second and first goals of the season respectively, and even though the team is still waiting for the first point of the season from No. 1-pick Alexis Lafreniere, the fact that he and other key players have not scored much this season is a sign that there is plenty of meat left on the bone offensively.
In net, Igor Shesterkin made 25 saves in the loss and is still searching for his first win of the season. Shesterkin has an .899 save percentage through three starts and is likely to get the start again on Sunday.
Pittsburgh News & Notes
The Pittsburgh Penguins’ underlying numbers pointed towards them getting a win in their first game against the Rangers and they pulled off the victory despite it taking a shootout. The Penguins had more overall chances despite having fewer shots and high danger scoring chances and have now out-chanced their opponent in four of five games.
Goals from depth forwards Bryan Rust, Teddy Blueger and Jared McCann propelled the Pens into the overtime period where they picked up the win after shootout goals from Kris Letang and Jake Guentzel.
Blueger, Guentzel and Rust are now tied for second on the team in scoring with four points in five games.
But the real story of the game was the play of Tristan Jarry who picked up the win after making 31 saves and posting a .912 save percentage. Jarry was 0-2 heading into Friday’s game and still has just a .821 save percentage despite the win. The starter for Sunday has not yet been announced.
Betting Pick: Rangers +115
The underlying numbers are looking better by the game for the Rangers and they almost pulled off the win on Friday. The Penguins might be starting their backup goalie and bettors are getting much better odds to take the Rangers.
- The UNDER is 6-2 in New York’s last eight games.
- New York is 6-12 in their last 18 games vs Pittsburgh.
- The OVER is 5-0 in Pittsburgh’s last five games.
