Washington vs Rangers: Gallant starts with a win at New York's helm

The Washington Hockey Players have beaten the Rangers in their last two head-to-head encounters. Will New York be able to avoid another loss to the Capitals? We predict that the New York club will win this time.

Alas, Washington have been on a downward spiral ever since their championship season. Early exits from the Stanley Cup are becoming routine for the Capitals. A year earlier, they had lost in five games to Boston in the first round, 1-4, and then did nothing to bolster their roster. The Capitals have kept Alexander Ovechkin for another five years. Still, at 36-41, he can hardly carry the entire team, and his partner of many years, Nicklas Backstrom, is not getting any younger. Washington needs fresh blood, but there isn't much of it yet, so the organization's prospects for the near future are very dim.

The Rangers, on the other hand, are slowly maturing to get involved in Stanley Cup contention. Yes, even making the playoffs seemed too much of a challenge for them so far, but they finally got rid of David Quinn in the offseason. The new manager of the New York club was Gerard Gallant, who achieved much more success in the coaching field than his former mentor and led the Canadian national team at the World Championships in the spring, where the Maple Leafs were triumphant. Barclay Goodrow, Patrik Nemeth, and Ryan Reaves have been added to the Rangers off-season and will add experience and skill to a young and ambitious team that will be up to big things.

Last season, Washington represented a much more formidable force than the Rangers, but even then, the rivals had four wins each in eight head-to-head encounters. Since then, the Rangers have had a new head coach and a more challenging and more experienced roster. The Capitals' roster has certainly not improved, with captain Alexander Ovechkin injured late in the preseason. All of that speaks in favour of the New York club, begging a bet on the Rangers' victory for 2.54.

Looking at the first matches of the current regular season, the teams are pining for hockey and are ready to show a bright and spectacular game. So there's no reason to believe that we won't see that in the upcoming match. Moreover, in their last four head-to-head encounters, Washington and the Rangers have scored 31 goals against (7.75 average per game), which is respectable even by NHL standards. Based on this, we would say that Total Over 6.5 pucks for 1.90 is a good bet.

Alexis Lafreniere is another young Rangers talent who played his debut season in the league a year earlier. In 56 games, he scored 21 points (12 goals + 9 assists) which is excellent for a forward who was just 19 years old. In the past preseason, he scored 4 points (1 puck + 3 assists) in four games, which indicates his good readiness for the season, so it is worth considering a bet on Alexis Lafreniere's Total Over 0.5 points for 1.85.