Los Angeles (22-20-4) at NY Rangers (30-16-1)
When: Monday, January 23rd 2017
Where: Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
Time: 7:05 ET | TV: FSN West, MSG
Open an Account at Bovada Sportsbook Now! Sign up at Bovada.lv to get up to a $250 Deposit Bonus and to bet all the Web’s best NHL Hockey odds and props!
The New York Rangers seek their first home victory this month when they host the Los Angeles Kings on Monday night at Madison Square Garden. New York, who has won 10 of their last 12 road contests, have dropped all three January games at home and will open a three-game homestand Monday against the Kings. J.T. Miller scored 1:56 into overtime and Henrik Lundqvist made 21 saves as the Rangers edged Detroit 1-0 on Sunday. The victory was the 20th of the season for Lundqvist, who became the first goaltender in NHL history to reach that mark in each of his first 12 seasons. The veteran joined Martin Brodeur (1995-2008) and Tony Esposito (1969-81) as the only goaltenders to record 20 wins in 12 consecutive seasons. Right winger Mats Zuccarello has seven assists during his current five-game point streak. Defenseman Ryan McDonagh is two points shy of 200 for his career while C Mika Zibanejad needs three assists to reach 100. New York could be without Kevin Hayes on Monday as the center exited the win over the Red Wings after two periods with a lower-body injury.
Los Angeles tries to snap a three-game losing streak after a 4-2 setback to the New York Islanders on Saturday in the opener of its five-game road trip. The Kings have scored a total of five goals during their slump after recording three or more in each of their previous four games. Jeff Carter entered Sunday ranked second in the league with 24 goals after scoring against the Islanders to match his total from last season. Anze Kopitar recorded an assist Saturday in what was his 804th career game, putting him within one of tying Rob Blake for fifth place on the franchise list. The captain is on a bit of a roll right now with eight points over his last six games. Carter leads the NHL with eight game-winning goals – four shy of the career high he set in 2008-09 with Philadelphia. Center Nic Dowd is day-to-day after suffering a lower-body injury in Saturday’s game. The Kings are currently three points out of a playoff spot in the West and will play the Devils tomorrow night.
The Kings are having a hard time scoring goals right now and that’s not good news when you’re going up against the Rangers. I don’t like taking teams in the second of a back-to-back, but the Rangers played pretty early Sunday, so they should be ready to roll at home tonight.
Pick: Rangers -130
