Picks: Rangers won't be able to slow down L.A.
Welcome to the NHL Daily Picks where hockey writers Adam Gretz and Chris Peters make their picks for all of the day’s games.
New York Rangers vs. Los Angeles Kings, 10:30 p.m. ET
The Los Angeles Kings received some help from the Rangers on Wednesday night when New York was able to hold on for a win over the Anaheim Ducks, preventing them from gaining any ground in the race for the top spot in the Pacific Division. On Thursday the Kings will have a chance to thank them in person when the two teams meet in Los Angeles in a rematch of the 2014 Stanley Cup Final.
The Kings will also have chance to open up a six-point lead over the Ducks in the division if they can win on Thursday, a lead that would pretty much put them in the driver’s seat to take the division.
Los Angeles has been on a roll over the past few weeks and is starting to get into a playoff mode with some dominant defensive performances. Entering play on Thursday the Kings are 9-2-1 over their past 12 games and have allowed just 20 goals during that stretch. Even more impressive than the goals against numbers is the fact they are only allowing 25 shots on goal per game, which is just a comically low number for an NHL team. Jonathan Quick gets a lot of the attention and credit for their success defensively (and he is quite good and having a great year) but the team in front of him can be downright dominant at times defensively. They simply do not allow teams to enter the zone or generate any kind of consistent offense against them.
Their past two games have been particularly impressive, crushing the Chicago Blackhawks and Dallas Stars, two of the top teams in the league, by a combined score of 10-2.
On the other side of the ice we have a Rangers team that has also — at times — been tough to score against.
But while the Kings shut teams down by playing suffocating team defense and keeping the puck away from their opponents, the Rangers’ success when it comes to preventing goals this season is almost entirely built around their goaltending as they continue to get dominated in puck possession and on the shot chart.
As long as their goaltending holds up, they are going to have a chance. But as soon as it slips, even just a little bit, things could get really ugly, really fast for the Rangers just as they did in the middle of the season when Lundqvist went through an extended slump and the team suddenly stopped winning games. At this point for teams like the Kings and Rangers it’s not really about the result of individual games, but the process taking place on the ice. Teams that get outshot the way the Rangers do on a nightly basis simply do not fair very well in the playoffs without a superhuman performance from their goalie.
Not only are the Kings probably the better overall team, they are also playing a brand of hockey at the moment that is extremely difficult to beat. Add that into the fact that the Rangers played a tough, physical game 24 hours earlier against the Ducks while the Kings were sitting at home watching, and it seems to be a tough night for the Rangers to pick up a win, even with Lundqvist returning to the net after getting Wednesday night off. Pick: Los Angeles Kings 3, New York Rangers 2
The rest of Thursday’s picks
Penguins 4, Hurricanes 2
Blue Jackets 3, Red Wings 1
Panthers 5, Maple Leafs 3
Lightning 5, Stars 4
The Los Angeles Kings are looking to increase their lead in the Pacific Divsion.(USATSI)
