Rangers vs Canucks Odds
| Rangers Odds | -150 |
| Canucks Odds | +125 |
| Over / Under | 6 -115 / -105 |
After an okay start to the campaign, the Rangers have set themselves apart in their first big road trip and have already beat Seattle, Calgary and Edmonton. However, all three of those adversaries have struggled out of the gate, so perhaps New York was just taking advantage of good timing. The Rangers' next stop is in Vancouver, and given the Canucks' solid start to the season, they might prove to be a bigger test.
New York Rangers
The Rangers aren't hurting for offensive weapons. Through seven games, Artemi Panarin is as good as ever and already has three goals and 10 points. Chris Kreider already has five goals and 2020 first overall pick Alexis Lafreniere might finally be stepping up as he's scored four times this year and has a goal in each of his past three outings.
And yet, the end result is the Rangers have averaged a mediocre 3.00 goals per game, down from 3.33 last season. Why? Well, there are a few different underperformers.
Mika Zibanejad hasn't found the back of the net yet. He has five assists, but after providing 39 goals and 91 points last season, his current pace is a step down. Blake Wheeler was also supposed to be a useful secondary scorer, but he has no points and a minus-3 rating. Vincent Trocheck, who was the Rangers' fourth-leading scorer in 2022-23, has also started sluggish with a goal and three points.
The good news is that New York should heat up as the campaign drags on. In the meantime, the defense has been fantastic. Sure, Igor Shesterkin has a surprisingly low .897 save percentage, but the Rangers are allowing just 24.9 shots per game, which is by far the least in the league. That trend is likely to continue as Vancouver has the fourth-worst shots per game (26.3).
Vancouver Canucks
At least Vancouver has been productive with its shots, though. Going into Friday's action, Brock Boeser had tallied six goals on just 18 shots (33.3%) while four more Canucks (Andrei Kuzmenko, Nils Hoglander, Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller) have combined for eight markers on 41 shots (19.5%).
That pushed Vancouver to a team shooting percentage of 14.6, the second-highest through Thursday's games. For context, no team finished with a shooting percentage higher than 11.8 last year, and the Canucks finished at 11.1. So, it's safe to say that eventually Vancouver will either need to launch more shots or its scoring pace will decline.
The Canucks' offense isn't the only thing that's been suspiciously good. With Thatcher Demko facing St. Louis on Friday, the Canucks are sending out Casey DeSmith for the second half of the back-to-back. DeSmith is off to a strong start with a 2-0-0 record, a 2.73 GAA and a .926 save percentage, but can he keep it up? The jury is still out after he struggled with the Penguins last season, posting a 3.17 GAA and a .905 save percentage.
DeSmith also has a 3.46 GAA and an .879 save percentage in eight career contests versus the Rangers, so this game might not be a pleasant experience for him.
Rangers vs. Canucks
Betting Pick & Prediction
The Rangers are being treated as favorites, but not overwhelming ones. FanDuel's moneyline has New York at -140 and Vancouver at +116. It speaks to how solid Vancouver's start is that it's the odds are this close on a night when the Rangers are rested and Vancouver is playing a back-to-back.
I think the Canucks are an interesting team this year, but that's partially because of Demko's bounce back potential. I'm less optimistic about DeSmith, so on a night where he's starting, especially against a team of the Rangers' caliber, I can't help but favor New York. Vancouver's offense also gives me pause. Its shooting percentage seems unsustainably high and in terms of 5v5 expected goals, the Canucks rank last at 9.87 through Thursday's action.
