New Jersey Devils vs New York Rangers Betting Preview

New Jersey Devils vs New York Rangers Betting Preview

The National Hockey League Playoffs get rolling this week with a classic rivalry showdown along the Hudson River as the New Jersey Devils take on the New York Rangers. This is the seventh playoff series All-Time between these two hated rivals, and the first postseason meeting since 2012, when the Devils beat the Blueshirts in six games to win the Eastern Conference and advance to the Stanley Cup Final, eventually falling to the Los Angeles Kings.

This season, the Rangers were picked by many to be one of the best teams in the East, but it was New Jersey that used an early-season run launch themselves into the conversation of contending clubs in the conference. With both teams relying on a handful of top scorers, quality goaltending and sturdy special teams.

This edition of the “Battle for the Hudson River” shapes up to be yet another classic series. Let’s take a deeper dive into the Devils vs Rangers Odds in this Eastern Conference Quarterfinal preview.

Tale of the Tape

New Jersey Devils 52-22-8 (112 Points)
New York Rangers 47-22-13 (107 Points)

Devils: Home (24-13-4) Road (28-9-4)
Rangers: Home (23-13-5) Road (24-9-8)

Head-to-Head Series in 22-23 Regular Season

March 30th, 2023: New Jersey 2, New York 1
NJ (home) -135/NYR (road) +115, Total: Under 6.5

January 7th, 2023: New Jersey 4, New York 3 (OT)
NJ (home) -120/NYR (road) +100, Total: Over 6

December 12th, 2022: New York 4, New Jersey 3 (OT)
NYR (home) -110/NJ (road) -110, Total: Over 6

November 28th, 2022: New Jersey 5, New York 3
NYR (home) -120/NJ (road) +140, Total: Over 6

Series Trends and Angles

• New York has won 10 of the last 14 meetings overall, despite losing three of the last four showdowns this season
• The Total is 20-6-1 O/U in the last 27 meetings overall, with a 15-5-2 O/U run in the last 22 meetings in New Jersey
• The Home Team has won six of the last eight meetings
• The Favored Team has won 11 of the last 14 meetings

New Jersey Devils

Top Three Scorers and Starting Goaltender:
– Jack Hughes (78 GP, 43 Goals, 56 Assists, 99 Pts)
– Nico Hischier (81 GP, 31 Goals, 49 Assists, 80 Pts)
– Dougie Hamilton (82 GP, 22 Goals, 52 Assists, 74 Pts)

– Vitek Vanecek (52 GP (48 starts), 33-11-4, 2.45 Goals-Against; .911% Save Percentage with 3 shutouts)

The New Jersey Devils opened the season with a pair of losses, prompting the crowd at the Prudential Center to chant “Fire Lindy!” during the 5-2 opening night defeat against the Detroit Red Wings. What happened next was a three-game winning streak, a home loss to Washington, and then a franchise-record 13-game winning streak.

After the first week of December, the Devils were the second hottest team in all of hockey, only trailing the Boston Bruins, with a record of 21-4-1. New Jersey would come back to earth for a moment, losing six games in a row and eight of nine heading into the holiday break.

The Devils would eventually find their balance, earning points at a very strong clip, thanks to a run in January that saw the club earn at least one point in the standing in 13 out of 14 contests. New Jersey made a couple of key moves at the Trade Deadline, acquiring forward Timo Meier from the San Jose Sharks and veteran Curtis Lazar from the Vancouver Canucks.

With their added offensive punch to compliment breakout stars Jack Hughes and Dougie Hamilton, and the superb goaltending of Vitek Vanecek between the pipes, The Devils find themselves back in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2018.

New York Rangers

Top Three Scorers and Starting Goaltender:
– Artemi Panarin (82 GP, 29 Goals, 63 Assists, 92 Pts)
– Mika Zibanejad (68 GP, 39 Goals, 52 Assists, 91 Pts)
– Adam Fox (82 GP, 12 Goals, 60 Assists, 72 Pts)

– Igor Shesterkin (58 GP (58 starts) 37-13-8, 2.48 Goals-Against; .916% Save Percentage with 3 shutouts)

The New York Rangers entered this season hoping to improve off of last year’s Eastern Conference Finals appearance, after losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games. The Blueshirts were playing mostly .500 hockey early in the year, before a seven-game win streak in early December launched the club towards the top of the Metropolitan Division, but still always staying behind the scorching hot New Jersey Devils and the tough Carolina Hurricanes, who eventually would wind up winning the Metro Division title.

The big talk for most of the second half of the season in Manhattan would be which top stars would be acquired at the Trade Deadline. Rangers General Manager Chris Drury did not disappoint, picking up future Hall-of-Fame scorer Patrick Kane and former Stanley Cup winner Vladimir Tarasenko.

These two forwards added more power to an already loaded Top Six group and with star Artemi Panarin re-uniting with a former linemate in Kane and a fellow countryman in Tarasenko, this group became fierce down the stretch, Earning at least one point in 16 of their last 19 contests and clinching their third playoff berth in the last four seasons.

Series Odds and Prop Prices

New Jersey Devils (Money Line to Win Series -115)
New York Rangers (Money Line to Win Series -105)

Devils win in 4 Games: +1200
Devils win in 5 Games: +550
Devils win in 6 Games: +450
Devils win in 7 Games: +400

Rangers win in 4 Games: +1400
Rangers win in 5 Games: +650
Rangers win in 6 Games: +450
Rangers win in 7 Games: +550

Series Spread: NJ -1.5 Games +150/-180 NYR +1.5 Games
Series Spread: NJ -2.5 Games +325/-450 NYR +2.5 Games

Over/Under Total Games:
4.5 Games: (Over -900/Under +575)
5.5 Games: (Over -200/Under +160)
6.5 Games: (Over +200/Under -260)

Exact Games Played:
4 Games: +575
5 Games: +250
6 Games: +200
7 Games: +200

New Jersey Devils Keys to Winning This Series:

The Devils rely heavily on their speed to wear down opponents. With skilled skaters such as Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt and Damon Severson, to name a few, New Jersey’s calling card has been to create odd-man rushes and utilize breakout passes, especially on the power-play.

Now outskating the New York Rangers isn’t going to be easy in a seven-game series, but if Lindy Ruff’s troops can take things one shift and one period at a time, they will have chances and opportunities to score. Another major key will be Special Teams. The battle between the Devils’ 4th ranked (82.6%) penalty-kill unit against the Rangers’ 7th ranked (24.1%) power-play will be the X-Factor.

New York Rangers Keys to Winning This Series:

The Rangers have a ton of speed and skill and their ability to roll four quality lines is only matched by a few clubs left in the postseason. However, they can also play a solid physical style, like we saw at times last postseason when the Blueshirts were able to hit the Pittsburgh Penguins early and often in that first round series.

They also know how to cycle the puck and wear down teams like New Jersey, who focus a ton on generating their offensive chances on the rush. If they can wear down the Devils and find ways to score on the power-play, this should be a victorious series for New York.

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