Coyotes vs Rangers Odds
| Coyotes Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
+1.5 -122 | 6.5 -106o / -114u | +195 |
| Rangers Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
-1.5 +102 | 6.5 -106o / -114u | -240 |
The New York Rangers will host Arizona Coyotes on Monday night in their 2023-24 home opener in front of what will be a lively Madison Square Garden crowd.
The Rangers are priced as heavy -230 favorites to bounce back from a 5-3 loss in Columbus on Saturday. The Coyotes showed quite well in their season-opening matchup in New Jersey, and continues to fly under the radar as a potential playoff side out of the Western Conference
Here is my Coyotes vs. Rangers pick and preview.
Arizona Coyotes
Arizona received full marks for its shootout victory over New Jersey to open the season. Aside from a plethora of penalties in the second period which led to two power-play goals for the Devils, the Coyotes' game was excellent, particularly considering the quality of competition. They led on expected goals 4.48 to 3.14, and that mark seemed fair upon a re-watch of the game.
Arizona's top offensive unit from last season of Clayton Keller, Barrett Hayton and Nick Schmaltz looked true to form. They will again be a legitimate top line, but the rest of the forward corps is where the Coyotes should be significantly better.
Highly-touted rookie Logan Cooley has looked as advertised after his excellent play this preseason, and he had two assists in the season opener. His addition to the roster could have be overshadowing sophomore Matias Maccelli, who was brilliant last year and excellent on opening night.
Arizona now has three offensive lines which offer scoring upside, and which should control more of the play at five-on-five.
The Coyotes made two big additions to the blue line with the arrivals of Matt Dumba and Sean Durzi, and both showed well on opening night.
Altogether, Arizona should control more of the play this season at five-on-five. The Coyotes could also have an underrated powerplay unit with Durzi and Cooley rounding out a talented group.
For the first time in several years, the Coyotes are not looking to be a lottery team in 2023-24, and general manager Bill Armstrong did a good job of bringing in established NHLers to insulate his talented young core.
Coach Andre Tourigny made a surprising choice to hand this start to backup Connor Ingram tonight as opposed to tomorrow in Long Island. Regardless, one game would have always been a night off for starter Karel Vejmelka.
Ingram was quietly respectable last year with a +3.7 GSAx and .907 save % in 27 appearances with the Coyotes.
New York Rangers
The Rangers have come out of the gates solidly with a 1-1 record, despite holding a 66.16% of the expected goals. Their high-quality defensive core should lead to strong defensive play in front of Igor Shesterkin, and that has been more or less the case so far in a tiny sample.
If there is a knock on New York's roster it could be a lack of quality scoring options beyond the established stars, and a forward core which overall may not help drive play in the right direction compared to top Cup contenders.
Even still, those thoughts could be put to rest if Kaapo Kakko and and Alexis Lafreniere pay off their high draft selections with productive campaigns.
Shesterkin allowed five goals against on only 21 shots in Saturday's contest versus Columbus. None were particularly glaring, and he has consistently shown a strong capability to bounce-back in his NHL career.
Coyotes vs. Rangers
Betting Pick & Prediction
There are plenty of reasons why the Coyotes should be a more competitive team this season than in recent years, and the optimism increases after they looked strong in their season-opener. Still, they are not getting any respect in the betting market and are essentially being priced as lottery team early on.
Thinking that Arizona is the more valuable side priced as a hefty +190 underdog does not need to be considered a slight toward New York. That's a big price to back any NHL team that will be competitive, and this Coyotes team is going to be downright irritating to play against this year.
Starting Ingram as opposed to Vejmelka reduces my conviction toward betting them to upset at +190 to an extent, but I still feel this is worthy of a smaller bet.
If backing Arizona to upset on opening night at MSG isn't your thing, Tourigny is still priced at +3500 to win the Jack Adams some places.
If anything, that would still be my preferred way to back the Coyotes prior to this game unless you have strong opposition to adding a season long future.
I loved that play leading into the year, and still feel good about it at that reduced number.
The Pick: Coyotes Moneyline +200 (Play to +190) | Andre Tourigny to win Jack Adams +3500
