Rangers vs Lightning Betting Preview: Eastern Conference Clash on Thursday Night

Thursday Night’s NHL Action gets rolling with an early evening battle between the New York Rangers and the Tampa Bay Lightning. This is a rematch from last postseason, when the Lightning won their third straight Prince of Wales Trophy as Eastern Conference Champions, advancing to the Stanley Cup Final. Let’s analyze this top-tier showdown with the Rangers vs Lightning Betting Preview for Thursday night.

Game Information

New York Rangers, Blueshirts Breaking Through the Metro?

The New York Rangers head down to sunny Florida to take on the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night. These two clubs have a recent history after last Summer, when the Lightning eliminated the Rangers in six games from the Eastern Conference Finals in the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs, giving the Lightning their third straight Prince of Wales Trophy as the Conference Champions and another Stanley Cup Final berth before losing to the Colorado Avalanche.

Then on Opening Night back in October, the Rangers got a small piece of revenge with a 3-1 victory over the Bolts. Now with victories in eight of their last ten games and sitting just nine points out of first place in the National Hockey League Metropolitan Division standings, the Rangers will look to exact some more revenge on a Lightning club that’s heating up at the same time.

Coach Gerald Gallant has this squad playing some solid hockey and thanks in part to forwards like Chris Kreider, who lead the team in goals with 16 and Artemi Panarin, who’s 42 points top the squad and goaltending from Igor Shesterkin, who has won seven of his last nine starts, many experts would say the New York Rangers are one of the best hockey bets today to make around the league.

Tampa Bay Lightning Striking Once Again?

The Tampa Bay Lightning are looking like their old selves again after beating the Montreal Canadiens last night by a score of 4-1. The win snapped a brief two-game losing streak but marked the eighth victory for the Bolts in their last eleven games.

Forward Brayden Point scored a pair of goals while star defenseman Victor Hedman picked up two assists and goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy made 25 saves on 26 shots faced to record his 14th victory of the season.

Tampa Bay will now battle the New York Rangers, who beat them 3-1 back on October 12th, and will look to extend their winning streak at Amalie Arena to six games. Look for veteran backup Brian Elliott to possibly get the nod between the pipes tonight.

The 37-year old netminder has a record of 7-2 with some below average numbers, including a 3.34 goals-against average and a .894% save percentage.

Rangers vs Lightning Betting Odds

Sportsbooks have the hosting Tampa Bay Lightning odds to win as short favorites against the visiting New York Rangers on Thursday night priced in the range around -120 to -135.

This is the 30th game this season where Tampa Bay has been favored, with the Lightning winning 20 of their first 29 games in that role. For New York, it’s their eighth game of the season as an underdog, with the Rangers winning four of their first seven games when lined at plus money.

Tampa Bay has won five straight home games and eight of their last eleven overall, while the Rangers have won eight of their last ten contests. Tampa Bay has won four of the last seven head-to-head meetings dating back to last postseason, including six of the last eight showdowns at home.

Concluding this Rangers vs Lightning Betting Preview: The total for this contest is set at 6 goals shaded slightly to the Over around the pick’em range between -110 to -120.

“The Under has cashed in each of the last six meetings between these two clubs. Tampa Bay has gone Under the total in four of their last five games overall, but possess a 11-6-1 mark to the Over at Amalie Arena this season.”

The New York Rangers have gone Under in 13 of their last 20 games against Eastern Conference opponents and have gone Under the total in ten of their last 17 road contests this season.

Check out all the updated New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning NHL 2023 schedule, futures odds, lineups, stats, recent news and betting tips, right here at Point Spreads.
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