Rangers vs Bruins Picks and Predictions: NYR's Depth, Goaltending the Keys to Victory in Boston

The New York Rangers and Boston Bruins will kick off a holiday hockey slate Friday afternoon on ABC/ESPN+. Both clubs are 4-1 SU in their last five and will look to climb the Eastern Conference standings with a win in the matinee.

Can the Bruins pick up their seventh win at home in 10 tries? Can the Rangers keep rolling four lines successfully? Find out in our free picks and predictions for Rangers vs. Bruins.

Rangers vs Bruins odds

Odds via the Covers Line, an average comprised of odds from multiple sportsbooks.

This line opened at BOS -145 on the ML but immediately hit -160 across the board. The total sits at 6 and is leaning heavily to the Under. Use the live odds widget above to track any future line movements right until puck drop and be sure to check out the full NHL odds before betting to ensure you get the best number.

Rangers vs Bruins predictions

• Prediction: Rangers ML (+140)
• Prediction: Over 6 (+105)
• Best bet: Rangers ML (+140)

Predictions made on 11/25/2021 at 3:30 p.m. ET.
Click on each prediction to jump to the full analysis.

Rangers vs Bruins game info

• Location: TD Garden, Boston, MA
• Date: Friday, November 26, 2021
• Puck drop: 1:00 p.m. ET
• TV: ABC, Sportsnet

Rangers vs Bruins betting preview

Injuries

Rangers: No injuries to report.
Bruins: No injuries to report.
Find our latest NHL injury reports.

Rangers vs Bruins head-to-head record (since 2019)

Rangers: 5-8 SU, 32 goals for.
Bruins: 8-5 SU, 40 goals for.

Betting trend to know

The Rangers are 10-1 SU in their last 11 vs. the Eastern Conference. Find more NHL betting trends for Rangers vs. Bruins.

Rangers vs Bruins picks and predictions

Our predictions are compiled from the analysis of the spread and total and are indications of where we are leaning for this game.
Our best bet is the play that we like the most for this game, which we would actually put some of our bankroll behind.

Moneyline analysis

The Bruins and Rangers come into their holiday afternoon meeting running red hot. Boston is 7-3 SU in its last 10 and has scored five goals in all four of their most previous victories while the Rangers are 6-1 SU in their last seven with that only loss being a 2-1 defeat by the Leafs as +160 dogs.

Gerard Gallant has got his team up to speed and the Rangers are starting to resemble Gallant’s Golden Knights. New York is rolling four lines that all have a role. This is a huge advantage on the road as Boston gets the last change for lines but with the Rags rolling four confident lines, Boston might not be able to find an advantageous matchup in the offensive zone for the perfection line.

The Boston offense is rolling, scoring at least three goals in six of its last seven. However, a closer look shows their last five games: 5-1 win vs. BUF (bottom-five goals against), 5-0 loss vs. CAL, 5-2 win vs. PHI (vs. Brian Elliott), 5-2 win vs. MTL (Bottom 3 goals against) and 5-2 win vs. NJD (Bottom 15 goals against). We aren’t going to overreact to Boston scoring against inferior opponents and goalies especially with Igor Shesterkin playing like he is.

Shesterkin is currently the No. 2 betting favorite to win the Vezina at +700. He is one win off the league lead and owns a 2.24 GAA with a .932 save percentage on the season. On the road, he’s been even better with a 2.12 GAA across nine games in which he’s picked up the victory in six of them. 

Boston has struggled to beat good goalies this season and has lost 4-0 to Calgary, lost 5-2 to Toronto, lost 3-0 to Carolina, and lost 4-1 to Florida. Those are four of Boston’s last five defeats.

Chris Kreider has been a beast this season for the Rangers, but this team is crazy deep upfront as Kreider leads the team with 15 goals, but the next highest-scorer is Kevin Rooney at five. The Bruins are still heavily reliant on primary and power-play scoring and if New York can build on Wednesday’s success on the PK (6 for 6), we could be getting some value on the visitors on the ML. 

The Rangers have been undervalued by the books of late and have won at opening prices of -110 vs, NYI (closed -133), -180 vs. BUF (closed at -230), -140 vs. MTL (closed -197), -148 vs. NJD and -130 vs. CBJ. This is the highest price NYR has been since closing at +155 vs. a much better Toronto team.  

We’ll take the deeper team with an advantage in net at +140 every time.

Prediction: Rangers ML (+140)

Over/Under analysis

Combined, both teams are 16-18 O/U on the season and sit in the Bottom 10 in shots per game. Despite that, both clubs are scoring over three goals per game this month and the Bruins are averaging game totals of 6.34 in November while the Rangers average total is 6.5 this month and are 6-3 O/U in their last nine. 

The Bruins are 5-1 O/U in their last six as the PP is coming off a two-goal outing and could have plenty of opportunities Friday. The Rangers gave up six power plays on Wednesday, take penalties at a Bottom-10 rate and have a PK that sits at 75 percent this month.

The Rangers’ power play has also been hot in November as Kreider has nine PP goals and is one off the league lead. If both teams come out sluggish after thanksgiving, we could see some early power-play opportunities on both sides.

The Bruins sit outside the Top 10 in goals allowed per game and the combination of Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman hasn’t been sensational although Swayman is starting to take over as the No. 1. The young netminder has 0.5 goals saved above expected which ranks 34th in the league. This is an average crease for Boston.

We might need some empty-net help, and would prefer a better price/number here (and one be available later), but for now, it's a lean on the Over 6 at +105. 

Prediction: Over 6 (+105)

Best bet

This Friday matinee should be a close battle between two teams that are riding recent success. Boston has been big home favorites in some of its most recent games (-187 vs. CAL on B2B, -244 vs. MTL, -136 vs. EDM, and -299 vs. OTT), but it looks like the books are continuing to undervalue the Rangers and simultaneously overvalue the Bruins with this +140 Rangers ML.  

Getting a hot NYR team at +140 against the Bruins who have struggled against great goaltending is a great price. If home ice is worth 20 cents, would you take the Rangers +100 on the ML at home vs. Boston? 

Pick: Rangers ML (+140)

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