Hurricanes vs Rangers Game 3 Odds, Pick, and Prediction – New York Looking to Avoid 3-0 Deficit in ECF

The Carolina Hurricanes have protected home ice advantage after the first two games in this series as they have taken a 2-0 lead heading to Madison Square Garden in New York. Both games have been a defensive battle as Game 1 was decided in overtime with Carolina crawling back and sneaking out a 2-1 victory. While Game 2 saw Carolina win again 2-0 with an empty net goal to seal the win. The Hurricanes vs Rangers game 3 odds indicate this should be another tight battle.

Now it’s time for New York to return the favor as they try to defend home ice, which is crucial if they plan on advancing to the Conference Finals as the Hurricanes are a great home team. The Rangers will need to win their games at home if they want a chance to take the series as it will prove difficult to beat the Hurricanes in their own barn.

Hurricanes vs Rangers Game 3 Odds

Odds are courtesy of BetRivers Sportsbook

Again heading into Game 3 New York sports betting markets have the Hurricanes as the favourite to win. They have been for the first two games of the series, however, they haven’t won a game on the road this playoffs. The Rangers have also won three out of four games at home during the postseason. This could set up for an interesting Game 3 as home ice could be a critical advantage in this matchup.

Carolina vs New York Game 3 Odds Near Pick’em

As we look at the odds for this matchup we can see that the game is essentially a pick’em as there isn’t a clear cut favourite as the odds say that both teams have a fairly even chance at winning. Because neither team presents the opportunity for + money, it might be more lucrative to add a factor to the bet to increase the amount of money we can make on this wager. Let’s take a deeper dive into the matchup and see where we can find more value while still ensuring we have a solid chance at cashing this bet out.

Projected Starting Goalies

This series looks like it will continue to be a defensive battle and it starts in the net as both goalies have been fairly strong thus far in the playoffs. Raanta has looked like a solid starting goalie as he has been in net during the absence of Fredrick Anderson. The statistics show that as he has been one of the best goalies in the playoffs. While Shesterkin was shaky at times for the New York Rangers in Round 1 he appears to have returned to his Vezina trophy finalist ways early in this series, only allowing 3 goals in the first two games.

With Shesterkin returning to form and becoming more accustomed to playoff hockey the Rangers will have complete confidence in their ability to keep Carolina off the scoreboard. Now if these goalies continue to play at a high level then this series will likely be a grit and grind battle as each team tries to fight for every inch because goals will be hard to come by.

Where is the Betting Value in Hurricanes vs Rangers Game 3 Odds

With the Rangers going down 0-2 heading back to New York, I think it is safe to say that they will be playing like their season is on the line because going down 0-3 to Carolina might as well be a death wish. The Rangers have been down two games in this playoffs already as the Penguins were up 3-1 in the series before the Rangers came back to win in 7 games. This means that they are still comfortable when down in a series and can show the resilience to fight back. With that being said, I have confidence that they will come out of the gate firing on Sunday afternoon and put the Hurricanes on their heels early.

In this year’s playoffs the Hurricanes haven’t won on the road as they dropped all three games against the Boston Bruins when they were the away team. Furthermore, the Rangers proved that they can take advantage of home ice when they have it as they were 3-1 against the Penguins when at home. Throughout the regular season New York was always strong at home as they had a record of  27-10-4 , while the Hurricanes had a home record of 29-8-4, demonstrating the importance of home ice for both teams.

Another home W for the @Canes 🙌

They are now 6-0 in the #StanleyCup playoffs when playing in Carolina. pic.twitter.com/hAoyPFuq1b

— ESPN (@espn) May 21, 2022

This suggests that as it demonstrated in the first round for both teams, home ice will likely continue to be an important aspect in this series. Moreover, sticking with the topic of home ice, the Rangers have historically been very good against the Hurricanes when they are at home as they have an all time record of 51-20-4, while they are 35-37-3 all time when playing Carolina on the road. Therefore, this strengthens the idea that the Rangers should be able to protect home ice in this series.

While the Rangers have been strong at home this year I believe the game changer for this Game 3 matchup is going to be Igor Shesterkin. In the past two games he has played like he did in the regular season, which caused him to be the Vezina trophy favourite this year. When Shesterkin is on his game and the crowd is alive, it can be suffocating for the opposing team as the thought that they’re never going to score may creep into their mind. Furthermore, the loud crowd in Madison Square Garden should also help get the Rangers offense back to normal as they have been quiet to start this series. If New York can get their star players going early on in this game it will be difficult to beat them as Shesterkin will likely remind everyone why he was considered the best goalie of the regular season.

Hurricanes vs Rangers Pick and Prediction

As previously mentioned simply picking a team to win moneyline has little benefit as there isn’t much opportunity to make money. For this reason I believe it makes the most sense to parlay a team to win along with either the over or under 5.5 goals. The Rangers are going back to Madison Square Garden, where they have played great in both the regular and postseason, and Shesterkin is looking like the superstar goalie that we couldn’t stop talking about in the regular season. Both of these factors make me believe that the Rangers will win Game 3 in under 5.5 goals. By parlaying the under with the moneyline winner you increase your returns as a bettor up to +230 with the BetRivers Ontario app, while still maintaining strong odds on your bet. Because of this I am riding with the Rangers in Game 3 at under 5.5 goals for the game.

Pick: Parlay – Rangers & Under 5.5 (+230) at BetRivers

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