Face-off: 1900 ET, 19/04/2022
Arena: Madison Square Garden
New York Rangers are still in the hunt to win the Metropolitan Division and could prove just too strong for Winnipeg on home ice.
The Jets have fought hard to make the playoffs but back-to-back losses at Florida and Tampa Bay may have exposed their limitations at a crucial time.
We’re going with 2.5 for the hosts to prevail and under 6.5 total goals in our New York Rangers vs Winnipeg Jets predictions.
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New York Rangers Odds
The Rangers are just two points behind division leaders Carolina and have a game in hand after winning five of their last six fixtures.
They have conceded only two goals in those victories following a second successive shutout in Saturday’s 4-0 defeat of Detroit at MSG.
Alexis Lafreniere scored twice and Igor Shesterkin made 20 saves, as they matched the scoreline produced at Philadelphia three days earlier.
Head coach Gerard Gallant beamed: “I thought we were outstanding. I thought we managed the puck as well as we have all season, we created chances and we played our game. I was very pleased.”
Forward Frank Vatrano added: “Right now, this is an explosive offensive team that is also playing really well in its own end. When we play like this, we’re tough to beat.”
Chris Kreider has drawn a couple of blanks since reaching 50 goals for the season last week and will be looking to get back on track here.
The 30-year-old is a worthy favourite to score first at 8.5 in the NHL odds for this contest.
Winnipeg Jets Odds
Winnipeg have been clinging to the hope of a wild card berth for some time but back-to-back losses may just have knocked the stuffing out of them.
The Jets were thrashed 6-1 when visiting the Panthers on Friday and then went down 7-4 away to the Lightning the next day.
Interim head coach Dave Lowry is expecting another tough test here, having lost 4-1 at home to the Rangers last month.
“We got a pretty good look at them in our building, they’re going to play fast,” said Lowry.
“They play physical and they play a man’s game. For us, it’s going to be a really good challenge.
“We have to go in there, we have to check and we have to make sure we’re prepared to skate.”
A recent trade which saw Andrew Copp head to New York in exchange for Morgan Barron and conditional draft picks adds a bit of spice to this clash.
Copp netted 13 times for the Jets this term and has added five more for the Rangers, so 3.2 for him to score at any time against his old club completes our NHL predictions.
Additional stats
Last result:
NEW YORK RANGERS 4-0 Detroit
Tampa Bay 7-4 WINNIPEG
Season head-to-head: Winnipeg 1-4 NY Rangers
