by Chuck Sommers
Monday, Feb 06, 2023
Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
Venue: Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
Where to watch: MSG, SNW, SNE
Opening Odds at USA Sportsbooks
DraftKings: Rangers -130, Flames +110
FanDuel: Rangers -125, Flames +104
BetMGM: Rangers -130, Flames +110
Caesars: Rangers -125, Flames +105
Season record
Flames: 24-17-9
Rangers: 27-14-8
The All-Star break is over, the second half of the NHL season can officially begin, and we're bound for what should be a very exciting second half of the hockey season. Basketball and hockey are about to rule the roost in the sports betting world once the Super Bowl is done with, and we should all be very excited for what's to come. When the trade deadline hits and players switch teams, you know things are about to get hectic over these final 30 games or so. One way you can stay tuned with the action is following what our champion handicappers are doing in the world of the NHL. Look at ASA, Inc., reeling in a $6,750 profit off a 17-9-0 run. Al McMordie is also doing well on the ice with a 13-5-0 run and a net profit of $6,050. Scott Rickenbach has also been hanging strong with a lot of betting action, in what's been an unusual year, with a 24-18-0 run and reeling in $5,950. You know this action is going to be great now that games are back and a busy second half if on the horizon. All you need to do is head to our BEST BETS page at bigal.com to find out all of what we're trying to tell you. Make sure you're locked in at bigal.com and go to our Best Bets page to find out what our champion handicappers have to say in the world of the NHL!
Flames - Rangers preview, prediction and analysis
Recent results
Flames: won 5-2 at Kraken
Rangers: won 4-1 vs. Golden Knights
The Calgary Flames will be playing the New York Rangers on Monday, February 6 in New York.
The Calgary Flames won against the Seattle Kraken on Friday, January 27 at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, Washington with a score of 5-2. The Calgary Flames currently rank 5th in the Pacific Division.
Elias Lindholm and Blake Coleman each had a goal and two assists for the Calgary Flames. Each of Lindholm's points came during a three-goal first period for Calgary, which lost 5-1 to the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday.
"We definitely needed to beat these guys," Flames forward Tyler Toffoli said. "They're ahead of us [in the standings]. It was a playoff atmosphere. Fans were awesome here, and like I said we needed a win, and we did a great job."
Toffoli had a goal and an assist, and Mikael Backlund had two assists for the Flames (24-17-9), who played their last game before their bye week.
Dan Vladar made 29 saves for Calgary and is 10-0-3 since Nov. 29.
"Obviously, the guys played great in front of me," Vladar said. "Totally different group than last night and you know after that terrible game yesterday, we came back. I don't think anyone's happy right now because we should have had four out of four [points]."
The Kraken shot the first goal at 5:20 of the first period. Lindholm tied it 1-1 at 7:16 when he backhanded Toffoli's feed past Jones.
Toffoli gave Calgary a 2-1 lead at 13:28 on a rebound of Coleman's shot, and Nikita Zadorov made it 3-1 with five seconds left in the first on a one-timer from between the circles.
Noah Hanifin gave Calgary a 4-2 lead at 11:40 on a one-timer from between the circles after a pass from Backlund, and Coleman scored an empty-net goal with 1:20 remaining for the 5-2 final.
"They scored first, but I think from then on we did a good job of containing them," Toffoli said. "Obviously in the third they had a push there, and we took some unnecessary penalties but obviously killed them off, getting a good break with a goalie interference, but overall, just a good win."
The Calgary Flames have won five of their last 10 games.
The New York Rangers won against the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday, January 27 at Madison Square Garden in New York with a score of 4-1. The New York Rangers currently rank 3rd in the Metropolitan Division.
Jaroslav Halak made 33 saves to win his fifth straight start. Halak, who won for the first time at home this season, is 5-0-0 with a .938 save percentage and 1.80 goals against average since Dec. 17, including allowing three goals on 77 shots in his past three starts. He was 1-6-1 with an .888 save percentage and 3.04 GAA in his first eight starts after signing a one-year contract with New York on July 13, 2022.
"Every time you join a new team, maybe you try too much and somehow you're squeezing the stick a little more," Halak said. "I guess when my record wasn't the best, I told myself, 'Don't worry about those games, turn the page and keep moving forward.' That's what I wanted."
Vincent Trocheck had a goal and an assist, and Chris Kreider scored his 20th goal of the season in his 700th NHL game, all with the Rangers (27-14-8), who had lost two of three.
Kreider made it 1-0 at 16:08 of the first period. Brayden McNabb rimmed the puck behind the Golden Knights net and Paul Cotter couldn't handle it. Trocheck got to it, carried it into the bottom of the right face-off circle and his shot deflected in off Kreider.
Trocheck gave New York a 2-0 lead at 19:17, scoring from the bottom of the right circle off a pass from Barclay Goodrow, who got the puck behind the net after using his strength to get free of Vegas defenseman Alec Martinez. It was Trocheck's first goal in 11 games since Jan. 3.
Halak kept the Rangers in front by making a post-to-post save with his left pad on Keegan Kolesar, who was coming down the right side and had a chance off a pass from Brett Howden.
"I saw him coming through the middle when I looked and luckily for me, he didn't raise it over my pad and glove, so I was able to make the save," Halak said.
Filip Chytil put New York ahead 3-1 at 14:20 of the third period, scoring in his third straight game. He knifed down the middle, lost the puck twice but found it both times. From below the left circle, Chytil winged the puck to the net with his backhand and it knocked in off Shea Theodore's left skate.
Jimmy Vesey scored an empty-net goal from the far circle at 18:37 for the 4-1 final.
"We really turned it around and a big credit to everyone in here," New York center Mika Zibanejad said. "We believed in this group. We believed in each other. We knew what we had to do. We weren't happy the way we were playing the first 25 games or so, but everyone was just trying to get back to what we did well last year, trying to understand to do the simple things, the little details that really matter.
"We know that's when we're a good team, when we pay attention to those little details and work together. That's what we've been seeing."
The New York Rangers have won six of their last 10 games.
Prediction
The Flames are a big question going into the second half of the season. I'm not sure what brand of Calgary we're getting, but the red-hot Rangers may one-up them. Rangers 4, Flames 2
The Calgary Flames will be playing the New York Rangers on Monday, February 6 in New York.
The Calgary Flames won against the Seattle Kraken on Friday, January 27 at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, Washington with a score of 5-2. The Calgary Flames currently rank 5th in the Pacific Division.
Elias Lindholm and Blake Coleman each had a goal and two assists for the Calgary Flames. Each of Lindholm's points came during a three-goal first period for Calgary, which lost 5-1 to the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday.
"We definitely needed to beat these guys," Flames forward Tyler Toffoli said. "They're ahead of us [in the standings]. It was a playoff atmosphere. Fans were awesome here, and like I said we needed a win, and we did a great job."
Toffoli had a goal and an assist, and Mikael Backlund had two assists for the Flames (24-17-9), who played their last game before their bye week.
Dan Vladar made 29 saves for Calgary and is 10-0-3 since Nov. 29.
"Obviously, the guys played great in front of me," Vladar said. "Totally different group than last night and you know after that terrible game yesterday, we came back. I don't think anyone's happy right now because we should have had four out of four [points]."
The Kraken shot the first goal at 5:20 of the first period. Lindholm tied it 1-1 at 7:16 when he backhanded Toffoli's feed past Jones.
Toffoli gave Calgary a 2-1 lead at 13:28 on a rebound of Coleman's shot, and Nikita Zadorov made it 3-1 with five seconds left in the first on a one-timer from between the circles.
Noah Hanifin gave Calgary a 4-2 lead at 11:40 on a one-timer from between the circles after a pass from Backlund, and Coleman scored an empty-net goal with 1:20 remaining for the 5-2 final.
"They scored first, but I think from then on we did a good job of containing them," Toffoli said. "Obviously in the third they had a push there, and we took some unnecessary penalties but obviously killed them off, getting a good break with a goalie interference, but overall, just a good win."
The Calgary Flames have won five of their last 10 games.
The New York Rangers won against the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday, January 27 at Madison Square Garden in New York with a score of 4-1. The New York Rangers currently rank 3rd in the Metropolitan Division.
Jaroslav Halak made 33 saves to win his fifth straight start. Halak, who won for the first time at home this season, is 5-0-0 with a .938 save percentage and 1.80 goals against average since Dec. 17, including allowing three goals on 77 shots in his past three starts. He was 1-6-1 with an .888 save percentage and 3.04 GAA in his first eight starts after signing a one-year contract with New York on July 13, 2022.
"Every time you join a new team, maybe you try too much and somehow you're squeezing the stick a little more," Halak said. "I guess when my record wasn't the best, I told myself, 'Don't worry about those games, turn the page and keep moving forward.' That's what I wanted."
Vincent Trocheck had a goal and an assist, and Chris Kreider scored his 20th goal of the season in his 700th NHL game, all with the Rangers (27-14-8), who had lost two of three.
Kreider made it 1-0 at 16:08 of the first period. Brayden McNabb rimmed the puck behind the Golden Knights net and Paul Cotter couldn't handle it. Trocheck got to it, carried it into the bottom of the right face-off circle and his shot deflected in off Kreider.
Trocheck gave New York a 2-0 lead at 19:17, scoring from the bottom of the right circle off a pass from Barclay Goodrow, who got the puck behind the net after using his strength to get free of Vegas defenseman Alec Martinez. It was Trocheck's first goal in 11 games since Jan. 3.
Halak kept the Rangers in front by making a post-to-post save with his left pad on Keegan Kolesar, who was coming down the right side and had a chance off a pass from Brett Howden.
"I saw him coming through the middle when I looked and luckily for me, he didn't raise it over my pad and glove, so I was able to make the save," Halak said.
Filip Chytil put New York ahead 3-1 at 14:20 of the third period, scoring in his third straight game. He knifed down the middle, lost the puck twice but found it both times. From below the left circle, Chytil winged the puck to the net with his backhand and it knocked in off Shea Theodore's left skate.
Jimmy Vesey scored an empty-net goal from the far circle at 18:37 for the 4-1 final.
"We really turned it around and a big credit to everyone in here," New York center Mika Zibanejad said. "We believed in this group. We believed in each other. We knew what we had to do. We weren't happy the way we were playing the first 25 games or so, but everyone was just trying to get back to what we did well last year, trying to understand to do the simple things, the little details that really matter.
"We know that's when we're a good team, when we pay attention to those little details and work together. That's what we've been seeing."
The New York Rangers have won six of their last 10 games.
Prediction
The Flames are a big question going into the second half of the season. I'm not sure what brand of Calgary we're getting, but the red-hot Rangers may one-up them. Rangers 4, Flames 2
Betting trends
Flames are 5-8 after a division game this season.
Flames are 7-11 after scoring 4 goals or more last game this season.
Rangers are 13-8 in non-conference games this season.
Rangers are 8-11 off a win by 2 goals or more this season.
Projected lines
Flames:
Dillon Dube -- Elias Lindholm -- Tyler Toffoli
Milan Lucic -- Nazem Kadri -- Jonathan Huberdeau
Andrew Mangiapane -- Mikael Backlund -- Blake Coleman
Jakob Pelletier -- Trevor Lewis -- Walker Duehr
Noah Hanifin -- Rasmus Andersson
Nikita Zadorov -- MacKenzie Weegar
Connor Mackey -- Michael Stone
Dan Vladar
Dillon Dube -- Elias Lindholm -- Tyler Toffoli
Milan Lucic -- Nazem Kadri -- Jonathan Huberdeau
Andrew Mangiapane -- Mikael Backlund -- Blake Coleman
Jakob Pelletier -- Trevor Lewis -- Walker Duehr
Noah Hanifin -- Rasmus Andersson
Nikita Zadorov -- MacKenzie Weegar
Connor Mackey -- Michael Stone
Dan Vladar
Rangers:
Artemi Panarin -- Mika Zibanejad -- Jimmy Vesey
Chris Kreider -- Vincent Trocheck -- Barclay Goodrow
Alexis Lafreniere -- Filip Chytil -- Kaapo Kakko
Will Cuylle -- Jake Leschyshyn -- Julien Gauthier
Ryan Lindgren -- Adam Fox
K'Andre Miller -- Jacob Trouba
Ben Harpur -- Braden Schneider
Igor Shesterkin
Artemi Panarin -- Mika Zibanejad -- Jimmy Vesey
Chris Kreider -- Vincent Trocheck -- Barclay Goodrow
Alexis Lafreniere -- Filip Chytil -- Kaapo Kakko
Will Cuylle -- Jake Leschyshyn -- Julien Gauthier
Ryan Lindgren -- Adam Fox
K'Andre Miller -- Jacob Trouba
Ben Harpur -- Braden Schneider
Igor Shesterkin
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Chuck Sommers
About the Author:
Chuck Sommers has camped outside of sportsbooks since he can remember, learning the tricks and nuances of the trade. He still has nightmares of betting $5,000 on the Raiders in the Tuck Rule game but has since turned that to 25 years of veteran handicapping greatness. You can find him mostly in the shadows at the Red Rock or Aliante casinos wondering if the over is cashing on any given Sunday.
