Rangers vs. Canucks Betting Odds, Prediction: Is New York Due for Regression?

Rangers at Canucks Odds

Two teams in very different form will meet in Vancouver on Tuesday night. While Igor Shesterkin and the Rangers are red hot with six wins in their first nine games, the Canucks are fighting it and have dropped three straight.

It's no wonder the Blueshirts are slight favorites, despite being on the road.

New York Rangers

The Rangers have parlayed some timely scoring and excellent goaltending into a 6-2-1 record. The Blueshirts followed that script again during Sunday's 3-1 win over the Kraken. Seattle carried play for much of the game, but ultimately came undone thanks to a beautiful goal by the freshy-extended Norris Trophy winner Adam Fox off a pass from Artemi Panarin.

Shesterkin, Panarin, Fox, Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider have all been superb in the early going, but the supporting cast has not been anything to write home about. The Rangers may be an exciting group, but I do not believe this current recipe for success is sustainable.

Perhaps the Rangers will prove me wrong, but unless New York's depth players step up, I'd expect the results will suffer going forward.

Gerard Gallant likes to keep his goalie choices close to the vest, but it's hard to imagine he won't roll with Shesterkin, who has been out of this world so far, stopping .947% of shots on goal, and 8.7 goals above expected in seven games.

Vancouver Canucks

The Canucks have skated to a disappointing 3-5-1 record out of the gates and their offense has looked surprisingly sheepish, scoring just 2.33 goals per game (27th). Considering the skill the Canucks have, the power play has also been disappointing at 18.8%.

Vancouver's top nine offers a lot in the talent department, but until Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser get going the Canucks won't be able to find their stride.

Vancouver's young talent, specifically Nils Hoglander and Vasily Podkolzin, have also yet to get stuck in and I believe both have more to offer.

Same thing with regards to the powerplay, as I feel that a group quarterbacked by Quinn Hughes and playing Elias Pettersson on the half-wall with a number of quality shooters is eventually going to click for better results going forward.

Thatcher Demko will likely start for the Canucks, having already rested recently on Thursday against Philadelphia. Demko has been rock-solid in the early going, stopping .924% of shots faced and with 3.3 goals saved above expected.

Rangers vs. Canucks 

Vancouver has not been strong in the early going this season and it's certainly a bit of a scary proposition to back the Canucks given their recent play, but I think this sets up as a spot for them to do so at plus-money on home ice against a Rangers team who likely hold an inflated record and are in turn being overvalued.

You can't simply be entirely results orientated when handicapping the NHL, and as outlined I feel Vancouver's talented top-nine is quite likely to produce better offensive outputs going forward. Same goes for the power play, which has the pieces to easily produce a higher success rate as the season rolls along.

I see value backing the Canucks here as a home underdog, and should coach Gerard Gallant happen to decide to go with backup Alexandr Georgiev against a struggling Vancouver squad it will go as a nice surprise.

Pick: Vancouver Canucks -105 or better