New York Rangers vs. Columbus Blue Jackets - 12/5/19 NHL Pick, Odds, and Prediction

Game: New York Rangers vs Columbus Blue Jackets

Date: Thursday, December 5, 2019

Location: Nationwide Arena in Columbus, OH

TV: MSG2

Odds/Point Spread: Rangers (+113) Blue Jackets (-125)

Total/Over-Under: 6

Joonas Korpisalo and the Columbus Blue Jackets (11-12-4, 7th in the Metropolitan Division) play the New York Rangers (13-10-3, 6th in the Metropolitan Division) at Nationwide Arena on Thursday, December 5, 2019. The Rangers open this matchup at +113 while the Blue Jackets are coming in at -125. The O/U is set at 6. The Rangers cover 50.0% of the time, having gone 13-13 SU. The Blue Jackets cover 40.7% of the time, going 11-16 straight up.

The New York Rangers step onto the ice holding a record of 13 wins and 10 losses, ranking them 6th in the Metropolitan Division. During the year thus far, they have scored a total of 84 goals which has them ranked at 11th in the Eastern Conference and 17th in the NHL. Their goal differential is -2, ranking them 19th in the NHL. The Rangers have earned a total of 29 points, which has them ranked at 23rd in the NHL and 12th in the Eastern Conference. Regarding shots toward the net, they have earned a total of 760 which has them ranked at 15th in the conference and 30th in the NHL. As a group, New York has obtained a total of 415 hits which means they are averaging 16 per contest. They have earned a total of 307 blocks for this season. Protecting the goal for New York is Henrik Lundqvist from Fussen, West Germany. He is 37 years old and has played a total of 971 mins protecting the net for the season. Lundqvist is surrendering an average of 3.21 goals against average which puts him at 20th among Eastern Conference goalies and 44th among goalies in the NHL. Over the course of this year, he's given up 52 goals. His save % is .910 which puts him at 11th among Eastern Conference goalies.

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The New York Rangers were on the wrong end of the scoreboard with a 4 - 1 loss against the Vegas Golden Knights in their previous game. The Rangers had a below average offensive performance in the loss. For this game, they netted 1 of the 30 shots they attempted. In addition, they had 6 power play attempts but weren't able to score. New York earned a total of 6 penalty mins in this game. The Corsi for the Rangers was 44 and the Corsi against at even strength was 50 which means they had a Corsi percentage of 46.8%. Their Fenwick was 29 while the Fenwick against was 40, telling us they have a Fenwick percentage of 42.0%. They earned 13 face-off wins and lost 19 tries to control the puck. The offensive zone starts for them were rated at 64.1% and they had a PDO of 97.9 for this game. In terms of their opponent's stats, the Vegas Golden Knights racked up a total of 32 shots. They finished with a total of 12 penalty mins and they earned 2 power play attempts.

The Blue Jackets will be on the other side of the ice and for the campaign they have 11 wins and 12 losses. With reference to goal differential, they are ranked 13th in the conference and 26th in the league with -15. They have a total of 68 goals for the season which has them ranked at 14th in the Eastern Conference. Columbus has a save percentage as a team of .897 which is good for 24th in the league, meaning scoring chances could be plentiful if they are aggressive. They are shooting 7.6% which is good for 15th in the East. In net for Columbus is Joonas Korpisalo who is having an ok season by surrendering 2.84 goals against average and that has him 12th among Eastern Conference goalies and 27th among goaltenders in the NHL. In the 1,225 mins he's played, he's allowed 58 goals. He holds a save % of .902, which has him ranked 17th among Eastern Conference goalies and 37th among goaltenders in the NHL.

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The Columbus Blue Jackets faced off against the Arizona Coyotes in a game where the Blue Jackets were on the wrong end of the score by a final of 4 - 2. For this matchup, Columbus had a 56.1% Corsi rating. They got there by having a Corsi of 46 while the opposition earned a Corsi of 36. Their Fenwick rate came in at 55.7% by way of having a Fenwick of 34 and the Coyotes finishing with a 27 Fenwick. These Corsi statistics are telling of the type of game that Columbus had and it tells us that they didn't have their best game. Their PDO was 90.4 and they had an oZS percentage of 72.0%. The Blue Jackets netted 2 goals of the 35 shots on goal they attempted. They had 3 power play opportunities in this game and scored 1 out of those opportunities. As for their opponent, the Coyotes had 1 power play opportunity and were able to tally 1 goal. Columbus gave up 28 shots on goal and the Coyotes earned a total of 6 penalty mins.

Who will win tonight's hockey game against the spread?

Josh's Pick: Take New York (+113)

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