New York Rangers Vs. Pittsburgh Penguins Odds, Picks, and Predictions (2/26/22)

By Scott Steinberg | Feb 25, 2022, 7:55pm

Contents

Mika Zibanejad and Alexis Lafrenière each had a goal and an assist, as the Rangers beat the Capitals 4-1 on Thursday evening. Goalie Igor Shesterkin made 36 saves in the victory, as New York won for the fifth time in their last six games. Per NHL.com, the Rangers have won eight of their last 11 games overall. New York is 33-13-5 with 71 points, second in the Metropolitan Division. The Penguins lost their third straight game in a 6-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils. Evgeni Malkin scored Pittsburgh’s lone goal in the loss. The Penguins have been outscored 14-5 during its current losing streak, one in which the club has not led at any point. Pittsburgh is now 31-14-8 with 70 points, third in the Metropolitan Division.

New York Rangers Vs. Pittsburgh Penguins Betting Odds

The Rangers are 5-1 in their last six games overall. New York is 20-3-2 when scoring first and 18-1-3 when leading after two periods. The Rangers are 5-0 in their last five Saturday games. New York is +2200 to win their first Stanley Cup since 1994. The home team is 4-1 in the last five meetings between the Rangers and Penguins. Pittsburgh is 1-6 in their last seven home games. Over is 6-1 in the Penguins last seven games vs. Metropolitan Division foes. Under is 4-0 in Pittsburgh’s last four Saturday games. The Penguins are +1500 to win their sixth Stanley Cup in franchise history.

New York Rangers Odds

Artemi Panarin leads New York in points this season with 55 (14 goals and 41 assists). Playing his third season with the Rangers, he has 17 multi-point games in 2021-22. He has 25 points on the power play (five goals and 20 assists) and leads the club with five game winning goals this season. Panarin is +7000 to win his first Hart Trophy. Mika Zibanejad is second on the team in scoring with 53 points (20 goals and 33 assists). The 11^th year center has five goals and 10 points in his last eight games. He has 11 power play goals (tied for fourth in the NHL) and 22 points overall on the power play this season. Chris Kreider has scored 34 goals this campaign, he’s two goals behind the Maple Leafs Auston Matthews for the league lead. The Rangers winger has 48 points overall this season. New York’s number 20 leads the NHL in power play goals with 17 in 2021-22. Kreider is also a +15 and has played a physical game this year, delivering 100 hits; Ryan Reaves leads the team in hits with 186. The 10-year veteran, Kreider is +2500 to win the 2021-22 Hart Trophy. Barclay Goodrow scored his 11^th goal of the season in the Thursday’s victory over Washington. The two-time Stanley Cup champion has 22 points this year. Alexis Lafrenière, the first pick overall in the 2020 draft has 11 goals this season: one goal away from matching his total as a rookie last season.

Adam Fox is third in points among defensemen in the NHL this season with 49 (seven goals and 42 assists). The Long Island native has 11 assists and 13 points in his last 11 games. The second-year player is a +13 and ranks third on the team in blocked shots with 96. He’s averaging a team leading 24:26 of ice time per game. Fox is +550 to win his second consecutive Norris Trophy. Jacob Trouba leads the team in blocked shots with 117 and second on the club in hits with 136. He’s a +8 and is averaging 22:45 of ice time per game for New York. Trouba has 24 points on the season (eight goals and 16 assists). Ryan Lindgren has played in 47 games and is second on the team in blocked shots with 102. He leads the team in plus/minus at +19, while averaging 20:28 of ice time per game. On the offensive end, the fourth-year defenseman has chipped in four goals this season.

Goalie Igor Shesterkin has been the real star on Broadway this season for New York. The Rangers netminder has won five of his last six games. On the season, he’s 25-5-3 with a .940 save percentage (first in the league) and a 1.98 GAA (second in the NHL). Shesterkin is currently the favorite to win the Vezina Trophy at -120 and +1600 to win the Hart Trophy. The last goalie to win the Vezina Trophy and Hart Trophy in the same season was Carey Price in the 2014-15 campaign.

Pittsburgh Penguins Odds

Jake Guentzel leads the Penguins in goals with 25 and in points with 52 this season. He has 15 points on the power play in 2021-22. Playing in his sixth season, he’s tied with Mike Matheson in game-winning goals with five. He’s a +8 and averaging 19:43 of ice time per game. Penguins captain, Sidney Crosby is second on the team in scoring with 48 points in 41 games (15 goals and 33 assists). The two-time Hart Trophy winner is a +9 and is averaging 19:53 of ice-time per game. The three-time Stanley Cup winner has 501 career goals; he is the 46^th player in NHL history to score at least 500 career goals. Bryan Rust has 39 points in 2021-22 (18 goals and 21 aasists). He’s a +8 and is averaging 18:46 of ice time per game for Pittsburgh. Evan Rodrigues has been solid this season with 34 points: scoring 16 goals. Jeff Carter has 29 points on the year (13 goals and 16 assists). The two-time Stanley Cup winner has won 56.7% of his face-offs in 2021-22. Evgeni Malkin who’s missed a majority of the season due to off-season knee surgery, has played in 17 games. The 2011-12 Hart Trophy winner has 18 points (seven goals and 11 assists) in his limited time on the ice this year.

Kris Letang is the team’s third leading scorer with 47 points (six goals and 41 assists). The two-time Stanley Cup winner is a team leading +17 while logging the most ice time per game by a Pittsburgh defenseman at 25:46. He has 86 blocked shots and has been physical delivering 108 hits (second on the team behind forward Zach Aston-Reese’s 158) this year. In his 16^th season, Letang is listed at +4000 to win the Norris Trophy. Mike Matheson has scored seven goals on the year with five of those being game winners, tied for the team lead. In his second season as a Penguin, he’s +5 while averaging 18:15 of ice time per game. Brian Dumoulin has 14 points this year and is second on the team in plus/minus at +13. Dumoulin has blocked a team high 95 shots this campaign and is averaging 22:02 of ice time per game.

Tristan Jarry has started 40 games between the pipes for the Penguins this season. He’s 25-11-6 with a .919 save percentage and has a 2.38 GAA. He also has three shutouts this season; tied for third in the NHL. Jarry is currently +4000 to win the Vezina Trophy.

New York Rangers Vs. Pittsburgh Penguins Picks & Prediction

New York is scoring three goals per game, ranking them 15^th in the NHL and attempting 28.7 shots per game, 29^th overall. The Blueshirts have six players that have scored at least 10 goals in 2021-22. On the defensive side, the Rangers are allowing 2.5 goals per game which ranks third in the NHL and yielding 32.1 shots a game, 22^nd overall. Pittsburgh is scoring 3.2 goals per game, 11^th in the league and taking 34.9 shots per game, sixth overall. Defensively the Penguins are allowing 2.7 goals per game, ranked fourth in the league and 30.3 shots per game, which is ninth overall. But they’ve also given up five goals in each of their last five contests at PPG Paints Arena. I’m going with the Rangers in this game with over six combined goals scored in the contest.

Scott Steinberg

Scott has been a sports fan since he received a New York Mets jacket as a toddler. He’s been playing fantasy baseball and football for over 20 years, dating back to Frank Thomas being one of his first fantasy baseball picks. As a professional, he has covered the NFL, MLB, NCAAF, and NCAAB and is looked to as the go-to guy for fantasy sports amongst family, friends, and co-workers.