Undefeated San Jose surges toward Big Apple
The Rangers are pelting their opponents with rubber through the first two games of the season. Can Alain Vigneault’s club manage to deposit more of those pucks into the back of the net tonight?
New York hosts San Jose at 7 p.m. ET, with Madison Square Garden serving as the backdrop for the action. Online sports book Bovada.lv gives the Blueshirts odds of -115 to prevail. The reigning Western Conference champion, on the other hand, represents a +115 underdog.
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On Saturday, the Rangers outshot St. Louis 15-0 in the final 20 minutes. Yet they failed to solve goaltender Carter Hutton when it mattered most. Valuable defensemen Kevin Klein and Dan Girardi also suffered injuries in that 3-2 loss to the Blues, conceivably putting even further pressure on Ryan McDonough and Marc Staal moving forward.
Meanwhile, the Sharks grinded out a weekend victory over the Blue Jackets. Said 3-2 triumph featured many of the same elements that helped Peter DeBoer’s team finish with an NHL-best road record of 28-10-3 a year ago. New faces like Mikkel Boedker and Joonas Donskoi lurked around the crease, too, generating a multitude of quality scoring chances.
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With the Rangers’ blue line in a tough spot, look for additional goal-mouth opportunities to surface this evening. Of course, Henrik Lundqvist is always capable of functioning as the great equalizer. He owns a 4-4-0 mark in nine career appearances against San Jose.
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