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Edgar Chaput
New York Rangers vs. New Jersey Devils Game 2 Prediction, NHL Odds
A 5-1 final score was more emphatic than what some people predicted, but the reality is that many people pinned the Devils on upset alert. They don’t have nearly the same postseason experience as New York, who played a conference final only a year ago and brought on two Stanley Cup champions at the trade deadline (Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko).
Vegas says the Devils will even the series. They’re perched as -133 favourites on the NHL odds, with the total calculated at 5.5.
Rangers vs. Devils NHL Playoffs Betting Odds
New Jersey finds itself in a precarious position, one that many young, non-playoff-tested clubs of the past have as well. They don’t lack talent and they have a great coach in Lindy Ruff, but can they make a deep postseason run in the franchise’s first time back since 2017-2018? Of all the opponents primed to give them fits in a best-of-seven series, the Rangers seemed like a good guess and here they are, already up 1-0.
Nevertheless, the series odds are still fairly even, with the Rangers pinned at -179 and the Devils at +158.
Furthermore, if last year’s playoff run is anything to go by, Gerard Gallant’s unit is battle tested. They won both the first and second rounds in seven games – once as a favourite and the other as an underdog – and played six games against the Lightning in the conference final.
New York Rangers
Game 1 couldn’t have gone any better for the Rangers. When entering a hostile environment (one can argue how hostile playing in New Jersey is for the neighbouring Rangers), the rule of thumb is to take the crowd out of it early and plant the seed of doubt in the hosts’ minds.
New York obliged in the first period, with none other than Tarasenko taking the initiative at 4:58 with a simple-looking, slow wrister that fooled Vitek Vanecek through some traffic. The visitors didn’t get many opportunities on the power play, but of the three the Devils awarded them, two were pounced on, the first coming in the opening period off a Chris Kreider deflection to make it 2-0. From that point onwards, the game evolved as a war of attrition. New Jersey tried wiggling its way through New York’s defence, to varying degrees of success at best. When they did, Igor Shesterkin stood tall. When Ryan Lindgren made it 3-0 in the second off a brilliant wrist shot that found the slimmest of seams under the crossbar, it felt like game, set and match. The crowd was not into it and the Rangers were. Giving up a goal on a penalty will annoy some, but the team will gladly take a 5-1 final and 1-0 series lead.
New Jersey Devils
Conversely, Game 1 could not have gone any worse for the upstart New Jersey Devils, save getting humiliated by an even more sensational final score.
Jack Hughes, Timo Meier, Tomas Tatar, all were basically nullified by the Rangers’ defence and Shesterkin. Granted, Hughes earned his side’s only tally of the match, but it was a late third period penalty shot. Other than spoiling a shutout bid, it didn’t accomplish much. They won’t be able to rely on more penalty shots to win these games. The one word that is constantly brought up when discussing the qualities of teams that make deep playoff runs is “grit” and it didn’t look like the Devils had much of it on Tuesday night. Although Vanecek cannot be blamed for letting goals on superb deflections, the stats sheet also doesn’t lie: four goals on 22 attempts. It’s not a good start. This can still be a long series, but it must head to Manhattan tied 1-1.
NYR
NJ