New York Rangers vs. Washington Capitals Pick and Prediction – April 26, 2024

NEW YORK RANGERS VS. WASHINGTON CAPITALS EXPERT PICK AND PREDICTION – April 26, 2024 — If we’re grading the New York Rangers’ performance in Game 2, you’d have to give it around a B to a B-minus. On one hand, New York did win the game and grab a two-game lead in the series. On the other, it was far from the cleanest of victories.

Of course, nobody cares about style points at the end of the series. But the way the Rangers won Game 2 wasn’t the dominating performance that convinces the opponents there’s no way back. On the contrary, the Rangers left the door open for the Capitals to make this a series. Washington now has tangible proof that good things can happen on the power play when it gets pucks to the net. The Capitals still didn’t shoot very often in Game 2, but they victimized New York twice on the power play.

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And now Washington gets last line change at home, which makes this a dangerous game for the Blueshirts. With a win here, New York can essentially finish this series off and start preparing for Carolina. A defeat gives Washington hope in a series where the Capitals are playing with house money. The last thing the Rangers need or want is for this series to get back to New York with the Capitals still alive.

The Odds

Puck Drop

When: Friday, April 26 at 7 p.m. EST

Where: Capital One Arena, Washington

TV: TNT

Public Bets: 64% on New York

Public Money: 80% on New York

Odds courtesy of DraftKings, as of April 26th, 2024

New York Rangers vs. Washington Capitals In-Season Trends

The one thing that’s giving Washington hope is the fact that the Rangers haven’t beaten the Capitals in Washington this season. New York has won all four meetings in the Garden, but the Capitals have won three of the past four matchups on home ice.

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However, the way they’ve won those games isn’t exactly ideal for this situation. Each time Washington has beaten New York in the teams’ past 10 meetings (four times overall), the Capitals have done it by scoring. All four wins featured at least three goals for the Capitals, including a six-goal performance last season.

Three goals tend not to happen against playoff Igor Shesterkin. In 16 of his past 25 playoff games, Shesterkin has held the opponent to two goals or less, and the other nine saw three goals exactly. Washington is not built to grind, but that’s what this series demands.

Players to Watch

Here’s something unexpected: both Adam Fox and Alexander Ovechkin remain scoreless after two games in this series. Fox going scoreless isn’t a big deal. The Rangers are talented and deep enough to survive a couple games without him on the scoresheet, and Fox does enough on the blue line that his team doesn’t need him to produce to win.

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Ovechkin being scoreless is disastrous for the Capitals. Only three players on this roster got above 50 points (Dylan Strome and John Carlson are the other two), and only Ovechkin and Strome lit the lamp more than 18 times this year. Strome has one goal to his name, but Ovechkin has done nothing in this series. Capitals coach Spencer Carbery called him out after Game 2, so this is the time for him to play like a star.

The Pick

Game 3s are rarely easy to pick, and this appears no different. The Rangers controlled Game 1, but didn’t dominate in Game 2, and that’s made this far more of a question mark than I expected it would be.

The more I think about this series, the more it feels like it’s going five games. Washington played well enough to win last time out, and it feels like Ovechkin’s going to give the Capitals fans one last playoff memory on home ice in this series. I’ll back the Capitals tonight to give themselves a bit of hope before the Rangers finish the job.