New York Rangers vs. Ottawa Senators -- Playoffs Game 6 Pick



The New York Rangers will try and avoid an unexpected early exit from the postseason when they take on the Ottawa Senators this Monday night at Scotiabank Place in Game 6 of this Eastern Conference first-round playoff series. The action is set to start at 4 p.m. (PT) and the game will be broadcast nationally on the NBC Sports Network.

Series Overview-New York

If the heavily-favoured Rangers go on to lose this series, it will be hard to place much of the blame on their defence or goalie Henrik Lundqvist. For the most part, both have done everything in their power to keep every game of this series close. New York has killed-off 89.5 percent of the Senators’ power plays, and Lundqvist has stopped 154 of the 164 shots he has faced for a .945 save percentage.

The problem has been the Rangers’ inability to score ever since putting-up four goals in Game 1. Since that point they have tallied just five goals and were completely shutdown in a 2-0 loss in Game 5 as 159 home favourites. New York’s leading goal scorer through five games is Brian Boyle with three.

Series Overview-Ottawa

After losing the first game 4-2 as a 156 road underdog, it appeared that Ottawa would go down quietly in this series as a prohibitive underdog. It salvaged a 3-2 overtime victory in Game 2 as a 145 road dog on Chris Neil’s game winner and got a lift from Kyle Turris in Game 4 in another 3-2 overtime win as a slight home favourite. This team’s confidence has grown with each passing game and it put up its best effort in this past Saturday’s win.

If the Senators go on to eliminate the Rangers, much of the credit should go to goalie Craig Anderson. After finishing the regular season with a goals-against-average of 2.85 and a .914 save percentage, he has stopped 148 of the 157 shots he has faced in this series for a blistering .952 save percentage and 1.79 GAA.

Series Overview- Betting Trends

The Rangers are now just 3-10 in their last 13 first-round playoff games and 2-5 in their last seven games overall. The total has gone OVER in six of their last 10 playoff games as favourites.

The Senators are 2-5 in their last seven home games and 4-13 in their last 17 playoff games as underdogs. The total has gone OVER in six of their last 10 games as underdogs.

Head-to-head, the road team is now 20-7 in the last 27 meetings and New York is 2-5 in the last seven games. The total has stayed UNDER in 37 of the last 58 meetings and is 1-2-2 in this series.

Prediction

While some of the past betting trends suggest a higher scoring game that has not been the case since Game 1. Both goalies are settled-in and in excellent form so it is hard to see more than five goals getting scored on Monday night. Stick with New York and the UNDER in this one as this series is destined to go the distance: The Free NHL Pick: New York 2 Ottawa 1.


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