Rangers vs Devils Game 7 Prediction, Odds and Picks April 30
Will Home-Ice Propel the Devils In the Second Round
It has all come down to this as the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils play in a Game 7 for the first time since the 1994 game that ended with the unforgettable “Matteau, Matteau, Matteau” when Stephane Matteau sent the Rangers to the Stanley Cup Finals. Only five players on the Devils roster and nine likely to play for the Rangers were born at the time of the last Game 7 between the rivals.
The Devils are 7-7 in Game 7s with the Rangers posting an 11-6 record when a series comes down to a winner-take-all Game 7. The Rangers won a pair of Game 7s during the 2022 playoffs before falling to Tampa Bay in the Eastern Conference Final. Among franchises with at least five Game 7 appearances, only Tampa Bay and San Jose have better winning percentages than the Rangers’ mark of .647.
The Rangers scored five straight goals after the Devils took the early 1-0 lead with Mika Zibanejad, Barclay Goodrow and Braden Schneider tallying their first goals of the series.
The first four penalties in the game were called against the Devils with the next three going against the Rangers.
The team scoring first has split the first six games. Keep that in mind when it is time to make NHL picks.
When looking at some of the NHL news, other than New Jersey backup goalie Jonathan Bernier out of action, there’s not much in the way of injury concerns for either team.
According to the NHL playoff odds, the Rangers’ odds moved from +2000 to +1400 after the Game 6 win in the odds to win the Stanley Cup title. The Devils saw their championship odds go from +1100 to +1400.
Veteran New York Rangers forward Chris Kreider hadn’t scored in his first six Game 7s. He made up for lost time during the 2022 playoffs when he scored in Game 7 against Pittsburgh and then had a pair of goals in the clinching game in the next series against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Against the Penguins, Artemi Panarin scored the overtime goal in Game 7. He had a goal and five assists and the two Game 7s last year. Artemi Panarin had a goal against the Penguins in Game 7 in 2022.
Vladimir Tarasenko also has scored in a Game 7 before while a member of the St. Louis Blues. Patrick Kane has five assists in four career Game 7s.
Kreider, Tarasenko, Kane and Mika Zibanejad combined for three goals, four assists, 12 shots on goal and a +6 defensive rating in Game 6.
The Tarasenkshow calls for a second look. pic.twitter.com/sIblo0KPq8
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) April 30, 2023
The NHL betting lines total has gone under in seven of the last 10 games played by the Rangers.
Been There, Done That
The Devils have a bunch of young forwards with little playoff experience before this season. However, there are some Devils who know what it takes to handle the pressure of a Game 7.
Ondrej Palat played in a Game 7 six times during his run with the Tampa Bay Lightning. He scored in a Game 7 win against the Rangers in 2015.
The Devils don’t have as much Game 7 experience as the Rangers do.
However, defenseman John Marino played nearly 27 minutes while he was a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 7 versus the Rangers last season. It did not go well as Marino was -2 in the game as the Rangers won in overtime.
Fellow defenseman Brendan Smith has played in four Game 7s. Like Marino, he was on the wrong side of a Game 7 against the Rangers in 2022 when he played for Carolina.
The Las Vegas odds total has gone over in four of the last five home games played by the Devils.
Rangers vs Devils Game Injuries
Rangers vs Devils Head-to-Head
Each of the previous last three games had finished under the total thanks in large part to the scoring struggles by the Rangers before Dawson Mercer’s power-play goal with less than five minutes to play on Saturday sent Game 6 over the total.
Coming into the series, five straight games between the Devils and Rangers had been decided by either one or two goals. However, four of the six games in the postseason have been decided by either three or four goals.
This is the first postseason meeting between the Rangers and Devils since 2012, when New Jersey won in six games.
Jack Hughes and Erik Haula have three goals each for the Devils in the series. Kreider has six goals (five coming on the power play) while defenseman Adam Fox has eight assists (four on the power play) for the Rangers.
Rangers vs Devils Game Information
- Game: Rangers (47-22-13 regular season) vs Devils (52-22-8)
- Location: Prudential Center, Newark, N.J.
- Day/Time: Monday, May 1, 8 p.m. ET
- Rangers vs Devils Live Stream: NHL TV
Rangers vs Devils Betting Lines
Rangers vs Devils Picks and Prediction
This has been the lowest scoring of the series played in the first round and don’t be surprised to see goals hard to come by in Game 7. It has been a subdued series when it comes to the hitting department with the Rangers ranking 14th and the Devils 16th out of 16 teams in hits per 60 minutes.
Both teams scored on the power plays after the Rangers and Devils were a combined 2-for-20 with the man advantage over the last three games. Keep that in mind when it comes time to partake in live betting.
After the road team won the first four games in the series, the home squads won both Game 5 and 6 to send this series the distance. The Devils are slight favorites in the game. However, the playoff experience on the Rangers roster might be the difference.
When making NHL predictions, keep in mind that the Rangers are 27-17 against the spread on the road while the Devils covered against the NHL betting lines in just 18 of 44 home games.
New Jersey is 39-22-4 when listed as the favorite by the NHL odds while the Devils are 12-11-4 as the underdog.
The New Jersey Devils are listed at Ev in our Las Vegas hockey odds. This means that if you wager $100 on the Devils, you have a chance to win $100. New York is -120, offering a chance to win $XX.XX on a $100 wager.
The implied probability attached to the betting lines gives the New Jersey Devils a 50% chance to win, with the New York Rangers at 54.55%.
