New York Rangers vs. Pittsburgh Penguins Preview, Scores and Prediction

The Rangers are in a New York state of mind as they head into the playoffs as Stanley Cup favorites. They’re big -278 favorites in this series with the Penguins but can they push aside Sid and Geno in the first round?

New York Rangers:

It’s pretty hard to argue the New York Rangers have been the best team in hockey in 2015. They’ve battled serious injuries to important members of their roster and didn’t miss a beat while claiming the Presidents’ Trophy. They’re quick and deep and rely on balanced scoring throughout the lineup. Players like Martin St. Louis and Henrik Lundqvist are well-rested after stints on the shelf and Rick Nash is coming off a career year. The Rangers do struggle at the faceoff dot and have had issues with their power play, but they’ve managed to overcome those problems. Possibly New York’s most impressive stat: The Rangers suffered two losing streaks of more than two games during the regular season and each lasted just three games.

Pittsburgh Penguins:

The Penguins have major issues on the blue line with Kris Letang, Christian Ehrhoff and Olli Maatta all injured. Can Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin make up for the problems on the back end? Maybe, but it’s going to be awfully tough. Pittsburgh needs to sucker New York into taking dumb penalties and capitalizing on the power play. The Penguins do get a lot of pucks to the net averaging 31.6 shots per game and that’s the only way they will have a chance to keep up with the Rangers. They will have a couple of chances in this series to make a statement and they’ll more likely come in the first couple of games. The Pens need to make this an ugly, ugly series to have a chance.

Sports Interaction NHL Stanley Cup Odds

Prediction:

The Rangers are just so much deeper than the Penguins and Alain Vigneault has done an excellent job of managing the minutes of his most important players. New York heads into this series fresh and there’s no reason to think the Rangers will suddenly fall apart after such a consistent regular season. The Penguins are going to need some big breaks to make this a long series.

Pick: New York Rangers in five games.