New York Rangers vs. Calgary Flames - 1/2/20 NHL Picks, Odds, and Prediction

Game: New York Rangers vs Calgary Flames

Date: Thursday, January 2, 2020

Location: Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, AB

TV: RSNF/MSG

Odds/Point Spread: Rangers (+149) Flames (-165)

Total/Over-Under: 6.5

David Rittich and the Calgary Flames (20-17-5, 5th in the Pacific Division) host the New York Rangers (19-16-4, 7th in the Metropolitan Division) at Scotiabank Saddledome on Thursday, January 2, 2020. The Flames open this matchup at -165 while the Rangers are priced at +149. The over/under opens at 6.5. The Rangers are covering 48.7% of the time, having gone 19-20 SU. The Flames are covering 43.6% of the time, going 17-22 straight up.

The New York Rangers head into this game holding a record of 19 victories and 16 defeats, putting them at 7th in the Metropolitan Division. So far this year, they have racked up a total of 129 goals which is good for 9th in the conference and 12th in the league. Their goal differential is -1, putting them at 19th in the league. The Rangers have a total of 42 points, which is good for 22nd in the league and 12th in the East. In connection with shots toward the net, they have a total of 1,160 which is good for 15th in the Eastern Conference and 30th in the league. As a team, New York has a total of 753 hits which means they are averaging 19.3 per game. They have a total of 466 blocks for the year. Protecting the net for New York is Henrik Lundqvist from Fussen, West Germany. He is 37 years old and has played 1,297 mins minding the goal this year. Lundqvist is conceding an average of 3.05 goals against average which has him ranking 21st among East goalies and 43rd in the NHL among goalies. For the season, he's allowed 66 goals. He has a save % of .911 which has him ranking 12th among East goalies.

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The New York Rangers will be looking to get a win in their next outing after their 7 - 5 loss against the Edmonton Oilers their last time out. The Rangers had a impressive offensive output in the defeat. For this matchup, they scored on 5 out of the 33 shots they tried. They also had 1 power play attempt but weren't able to score a goal. New York ended up with 16 penalty mins in this game. The Corsi for the Rangers sat at 67 and the Corsi against was 42 which tells us they had a Corsi percentage of 61.5%. Their Fenwick sat at 44 while the Fenwick against sat at 32, which earned them a Fenwick percentage of 57.9%. They earned 32 face-off wins at even strength and were beaten on 21 tries to control the puck. The offensive zone starts for them came in at 62.5% and they had a PDO of 99.1 for this game. With regard to the opposition's stats, the Edmonton Oilers earned 31 shots. They finished with a total of 6 penalty minutes and they earned a total of 6 power play chances.

The Flames are the team on the other side of the ice and for the current year they sit with 20 wins and 17 defeats. When it comes to goal differential, they are ranked 12th in the Western Conference and 25th in the league with -16. They have a total of 111 goals for the year which is good for 11th in the West. Calgary has a save % as a team of .906 which currently has them sitting 13th in the league, meaning scoring chances could be there if they are opportunistic. They have a shooting percentage of 8.5% which is good for 14th in the West. In net for Calgary is David Rittich who is having an average campaign by giving up 2.78 goals per game and that places him 11th among West goaltenders and 23rd among goaltenders in the NHL. In the 1,880 mins he has been on the ice this year, he's surrendered 87 goals. He's earned a save percentage of .912, which has him ranked 15th among West goaltenders and 25th among goaltenders in the NHL.

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The Calgary Flames opposed the Chicago Blackhawks in an outing where the Flames were on the wrong end of the score by a final score of 5 - 3. While out there on the ice, Calgary went home with a 56.1% Corsi rating. That percentage was had by having a Corsi of 64 and the other team having a Corsi of 50. Their Fenwick rate came in at 57.6% by earning a Fenwick of 53 and the Blackhawks earning a 39 Fenwick at even strength. These Corsi statistics are telling of the type of game that Calgary had and it shows us they played like an average team. They had a PDO of 91.5 and their percentage of oZS was 57.1%. The Flames scored 3 goals of the 44 shots on goal they took. They had 1 power play opportunity in this game but were not able to net one. As for their opponent, the Blackhawks had 4 power play chances and took advantage of the situation by scoring 1 goal. Calgary allowed 33 shots on goal and the Blackhawks had 2 penalty mins.

So what is Tonights Parlay prediction?

Parlays Pundit's Pick: Take Calgary (-165) and under the total goals

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