NHL Betting Preview: Pittsburgh Penguins vs. New York Rangers Odds, Analysis

After leaving Game 1 early with a scary injury, Henrik Lundqvist made sure he would again be the goalie everyone was talking about for the New York Rangers in Game 2.

Lundqvist returned to action and outplayed counterpart Jeff Zatkoff of the Pittsburgh Penguins in a 4-2 win, and the Rangers stole the home-ice edge going into a key Game 3 at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday.

Still, Pittsburgh is listed as a minus-115 road favorite (bet $115 to win $100) at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark for the contest.

While the Penguins got Evgeni Malkin back in Game 2, most bettors were more concerned with the status of Lundqvist, who ended up stopping 29 of 31 shots following an eye injury he suffered when his own defenseman, Marc Staal, poked him with a stick late in the first period of Game 1.

He missed the last two periods of the series opener but did not show any signs of eye discomfort Saturday. Zatkoff was not nearly as good for Pittsburgh, giving up four goals on 28 shots after making 35 saves in Game 1.

Malkin did have an assist in his return and totaled nearly 20 minutes of ice time after missing the previous 16 games. The Penguins had gone 14-2 in his absence, including the 5-2 victory in Game 1, where Patric Hornqvist was the star with three goals and an assist as Pittsburgh paid off on the NHL betting lines.

Hornqvist did not tally a point in Game 2 despite playing one more second on the ice.

An even bigger problem for Pittsburgh was that captain Sidney Crosby also did not have any points in Game 2 after he scored a goal and had two assists in Game 1. Crosby had at least one point in nine consecutive games dating back to the regular season.

The Rangers snapped a four-game series losing streak with the win and saw the over improve to 3-0-2 in the past five meetings for totals bettors, according to the Odds Shark NHL Database.

Before that skid, New York had won four straight games between the teams—three of which took place in last year’s playoff matchup—with the under cashing each time.