Hockey Free Picks: Rangers vs. Hurricanes

The New York Rangers are not meeting the betting public’s expectations this season. After an impressive regular season in 2011-12, the Rangers struggled in the playoffs. The problem was that the team could not score goals when it needed to. In order to solve that problem, New York brought in Rick Nash from the Columbus Blue Jackets. Nash has not solved the problem and the Rangers are still struggling to score goals. At this point, the Rangers are drifting in and out of eighth place in the Eastern Conference standings, which means that every game the Rangers play counts.

The sports betting online experts want to say that the only way the Carolina Hurricanes can make the playoffs is to recapture the Southeast Division lead from the Winnipeg Jets, but that is not entirely true. Actually, the Hurricanes would take eighth and seventh spot in the Eastern Conference before reaching the level of the Jets. Carolina suffered when it lost goalie Cam Ward and the team is still scraping to find ways to win without him. Carolina is going to need to find new ways to get wins on the board without Cam Ward in net if it wants to make the playoffs.

New York Rangers

The online casino players note that the New York Rangers are one of the best defensive teams in all of the NHL. But the team is also one of the worst goal scoring teams in the league as well. The New York Rangers actually have scored the least amount of goals in the entire league, which is a strong disappointment to the fans who were counting on highly paid scorers such as Brad Richards and Rick Nash to push the team closer to a Stanley Cup. The Rangers need to find ways to score or else any playoff run is going to be extremely short.

Carolina Hurricanes

Carolina had only won three of the 10 games it played leading into the beginning of the week. The Hurricanes are also having a lot of problems scoring goals, but the team is not playing the same quality of defense that the Rangers are playing. The 5dimes sports experts see the Hurricanes as a team that is drifting without any direction at this point. The team needs to get focused back on playing winning hockey if it wants to find its way into the Eastern Conference playoff race.

The Bottom Line

If the New York Rangers miss the playoffs, then look for head coach John Tortorella to take the fall. It is hard to imagine any other outcome for a team with such a power-packed lineup as the New York Rangers. In this game, the Hurricanes will continue to drift while the Rangers struggle to produce some badly needed offense. In the meantime, the Rangers’ defense will keep the game under control.

My Pick: New York Rangers