The Philadelphia Flyers and the New York Rangers meet for some on line sports betting action on Wednesday, January 25th at Madison Square Garden. Stay tuned for the SBG Global sportsbook NHL betting lines.
The Flyers Sports Betting
The Flyers snapped a three-game losing streak – and nine-game road losing streak – while Claude Giroux broke a 13-game scoreless streak, when the center scored the winning goal with 1:40 to go in overtime in Sunday’s 3-2 win over the Islanders. Goalie Steve Mason also had a return to form, making 36 saves after allowing nine goals on 41 shots in his last two starts. Philly rallied from a 0-2 deficit in the first period. Wayne Simmonds pulled the Flyers within 1-2 in the second, and Ivan Provorov tied it in the third period. Philly picked up its first W on the road since December 14th.
Mason and Michael Neuvirth
The Flyers returned to wild card contention in the Eastern conference, where they are 5th in the Metro Division behind tomorrow’s opponents. Philly needs to work on the power play – which is 0 for 14 in the last three games – if they want to improve their on line sports betting odds. In addition to that, some believe that the Flyers should just go ahead and get a new goalkeeper in the trade market – someone along the lines of Marc-Andre Fleury, Ben Bishop, Jaroslav Halak, or Ryan Miller. Both Mason and Michael Neuvirth will become free agents on July 1st and both are last in the league in save percentage. Good riddance to bad rubbish? We’ll have to wait and see about that.
NY Rangers
On the other side of the NHL betting lines bracket, the NY Rangers are riding on a three-game winning streak – in which they have allowed only four goals and Henrik Lundqvist has stopped 80 of 84 shots –, including a 3-2 win over the LA Kings on Monday. Lundqvist made 36 saves against the Kings – including three straight during an LA’s power play in the third period – after allowing 16 goals on 76 shots in the Rangers’ previous three losses. The Rangers’ were outshot 38-17 but made the most of their limited opportunities. As a matter of fact, their three goals came off turnovers, including Mats Zuccarello’s game-winning goal at 6:40 of the third.
Zuccarello
The Norwegian winger is the runt of the Ranger’s litter and, by his own admission, has “never been a goal scorer.” Nonetheless, Zuccarello is playing the most minutes per game of his career (18:55), and has become a key element in Alain Vigneault’s game plan. Unlike former coach John Tortorella, Vigneault has put the veteran to good use on both ends of the ice. The 29 year old has nine goals, 29, assists, and 38 points in 48 regular season games, like NHL betting lines sometimes do, his contribution to the Rangers’ success has to do with more than just numbers, and it’s that intangibility that the New York club us going to need to prevail among on line sports betting fans over the Flyers.