NEW YORK RANGERS @ VANCOUVER CANUCKS
Ice Hockey : North America : NHL
Tuesday, October 18th, 2011, 10:00PM US
(3:00AM GMT)

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PREVIEW

The 0-1-1-1 New York Rangers are in Canada to play the Vancouver Canucks, who are 2-2-0-1 for the season. The Rangers have had to deal with some nightmare scheduling to open the season, on the road all the way through Europe and Western Canada but Vancouver have had it tough too.

The Canucks opened the season with 4 of their first 5 games on the road and it has hampered their defence a lot. While they allowed the least number of goals last season, they have shipped at least 3 per game so far. I expect that to stop tonight as they have Roberto Luongo between the pipes. Luongo has an excellent record against the Rangers, going 2-0-0 with a 1.50GAA.

The Canucks will have also Ryan Kesler in their line-up tonight as his hip feels better following surgery. Kesler banged in 41 goals last season and along with Chris Higgins and Cody Hodgson they form a scary offence. They will look for their first win in front of the home crowd tonight. Henrik Sedin and Sami Salo have been chipping in while Kesler was out, especially when Vancouver are playing with an advantage. The two of them scored on the powerplay on Saturday against Edmonton and if the Rangers continue to give away penalties like they have been doing, they'll get hit for a bunch of goals by this opportunistic bunch.

The Rangers gave up 8 penalties on Saturday against their rival Islanders and lost 4-2. They now face a Canucks side not just chasing their first home win, but a team that is looking to atone for their last game against Rangers, which New York won 1-0 back in January.

BETTING VERDICT

Take Vancouver to belt the Rangers tonight, and for better odds take them to win in Regulation (not including OT)

The braver of you can take them to win by more than 1 for even better odds.

The Pick :

Vancouver to win in regulation

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Take the Vancouver Canucks to win in regulation @ 1.93 (Pinnacle)

HANDICAP BETTING :

MAIN BET:
Take the Vancouver Canucks -1.5 @ 2.75 (Pinnacle)