Seattle Kraken vs. New York Rangers Prediction, NHL Odds
The Seattle Kraken are headed to Madison Square Garden for the first time in team history on Sunday afternoon for a matinee matchup with the New York Rangers. Seattle will be a little more rested than expected after their Saturday afternoon game against the Islanders was postponed due to a winter storm. The Kraken were last in action on Thursday in Pittsburgh, which resulted in the franchise’s first-ever overtime win, 2-1. The Rangers have been off since dropping a 3-2 decision at home against Minnesota on Friday.
New York opened as a -294 favourite to win on the NHL odds, with a total of 6.0.
Kraken vs. Rangers NHL Betting Odds
This will be the second time these teams have ever met and the game wraps up the season series. The Rangers downed the Kraken 3-1 in Seattle on Oct. 31.
It’s unfair to compare the Kraken to the wildly successful first season of the Golden Knights, but it’s clear things haven’t gone as well as Seattle hoped. They’re 5-11-2 away from Climate Pledge Arena and have dropped four of their last five road contests. The Kraken have also struggled to cover, going 18-25 against the spread overall. The total has gone Under in six of their last eight games.
The Rangers have been strong this year. New York 13-4-2 at MSG and come into Sunday’s contest with wins in five of their last six home games. They’re 23-22 ATS overall, including 9-10 ATS at home. The total has gone Over in four of the Rangers’ last six games.
Seattle Kraken
Defenceman Adam Larsson made franchise history on Thursday, scoring Seattle’s first-ever overtime goal. It was also the first time Larsson has scored in consecutive games in his NHL career. Jared McCann had the tying goal late in the third period, while Philipp Grubauer stopped 23 of 24 shots. It was the just the fifth road win for the Kraken this season and first since Dec. 14 in San Jose. McCann has been a huge part of this team and is having a career year. The former Pittsburgh Penguin was traded to Toronto in the off-season and claimed by Seattle in the expansion draft. McCann leads the team with 26 points and his 17 goals is already two short of his career-high.
This was originally set to be the second half of a back-to-back, so Chris Driedger likely would have started against the Islanders and Grubauer likely would have faced the tougher Rangers. It’s unclear how the postponed game will alter that plan. Grubauer is 11-16-4 this year with a 3.20 goals-against average and .885 save percentage. Driedger is 3-6-0 with a 3.18 GAA and .896 SV.
New York Rangers
Longtime Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist’s jersey retirement game didn’t end well as New York lost to a Minnesota team led by Lundqvist’s former backup, Cam Talbot. Barclay Goodrow and Chris Kreider had the Rangers’ goals. Igor Shesterkin stopped 31 of 34 shots. Kreider, who has never scored more than 28 goals in a season, has exploded with an NHL-best 31 goals this year. Artemi Panarin is 10th in league scoring with 48 points (12G, 36A), although he was held pointless against the Wild. Mika Zibanejad picked up an assist against Minnesota and now has 10 points in his last 11 games.
Defenceman Adam Fox will be out of the lineup on Sunday. The reigning Norris Trophy winner, who is second on the team with 47 points (7G, 40A), left Thursday’s game against Columbus with an upper body injury and missed his first game of the season on Friday.
It’s unclear who will start in net against Seattle. Shesterkin is 20-5-2 this year with a 2.10 GAA (third in NHL) and .936 SV (second). Backup Alexandar Georgiev is 7-7-2 with a 2.99 GAA and .898 SV.
SEA
NYR