The New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning meet for a Wednesday night battle in the NHL.
These Eastern Conference teams combine for an average record of 16-12-4, but make no mistake: they are both hot as of late and will be looking to keep earning points.
Tampa Bay is currently on a two-game winning streak, and have won seven of their last eight games. New York, meanwhile, has won five of their last seven games. These teams have high expectations to live up to, so expect maximum effort in this game as they try to continue to climb the NHL standings.
Here is our expert Rangers vs. Lightning prediction and analysis.
The Tampa Bay Lightning are arguably the hottest team in hockey. They are 7-1-0 in their last eight games, and have been climbing up the standings. Their start of 1-4-2 was extremely surprising, and while things are great now, they know they have lots of work to do to build a solid standing in the league.
New York has been hot of late as well, but two of their recent losses were a bit concerning. Within their last four contests, they suffered a 3-0 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes, and a 5-0 loss to the beatable New York Islanders. Any similar performance in this one will have them out of reach in this game very quickly.
Tampa Bay is well-equipped in their own building to take this game. They have one of the best coaches in the league in John Cooper, and all of their stars are performing at a high level.
The same can’t be said about New York’s roster. This should be a close and exciting game as both teams are hungry for points, but it makes sense to side with the Tampa Bay Lightning on home ice.
Mika Zibanejad is a well-known New York Ranger, as he has been with the team for 10 years and is a key piece of this core. There has been lots of turnover within the Rangers organization over the past few years, and he has been heavily relied on throughout.
He is a typical 25-40 goal scorer in the league, but his numbers have been diminishing since his 39-goal season in 2022/23. He has scored five goals in 17 games this season, and even in his slowing results, this is not acceptable.
However, Zibanejad found the back of the net in his most recent game, which broke a five-game goalless streak. This could kickstart some more results for him, starting with this huge matchup.
Jake Guentzel is an elite offensive contributor to the Tampa Bay Lightning. The 31-year-old center has scored six goals and 15 points in 15 games, and while these are solid numbers, he potentially has much more to give. Guentzel has scored 36+ goals four times in his career, including 41 last season which was the highest total in his career.
He has not been shooting much as of late, as he has seven shots in his last six games (1.17 per game). This is not the norm for Guentzel, as he is averaging 2.73 per game on the year. He also averaged 3.55 per game in the 2023/24 campaign.
With just two goals in his last seven games, expect a gamer like Guentzel to be hungry for more and to see more shots from him in a very important game.
Read more betting picks and predictions for the NHL on site
New York Rangers
+125
Tampa Bay Lightning
-150
Puck Line
TB Lightning -1.5
Total
O/U 6.0
Nikita Kucherov (Tampa Bay Lightning)
+155
Brayden Point (Tampa Bay Lightning)
+155
Jake Guentzel (Tampa Bay Lightning)
+155
Brandon Hagel (Tampa Bay Lightning)
+175
Artemi Panarin (New York Rangers)
+180
Mika Zibanejad (New York Rangers)
+210
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This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.
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