The New York Rangers won the President's Trophy this season, they swept their first round opponent and now the sports books have listed them as underdogs.
The first thing that needs to be remembered is that the line makers aren't giving their assessment of the series of who they think will win the series, rather they set the lines to determine who they believe the public will back, basically who the public thinks will win the series. With that said there is some clear disrespect here with Carolina opening as a -150 favorite.
The Rangers will face Carolina for the second time in three years in the second round. There isn't a long history between the two because the first playoff meeting didn't come until 2020. The Rangers got swept in a Covid arena in that series. Two years later, the Rangers came back from an 0-2 deficit and won a game 7 in Raleigh. This season New York has won 2 of 3.
There are a ton of positives from a betting stance for both of these squads as they enter this series. The Hurricanes have now covered in eleven of their last 14 games, dating back to the regular season. That's the first time they have covered 11 times in 14 games since January 2016.
The Canes are no stranger to being a favorite this season. They were favored in all 14 of those games and have been favored in 92% of all games this year, the most in the league.
The Rangers, well they love being the underdog. It's rare that a President's Trophy winner is doubted as much as the Blueshirts have been but when they have doubters they prove them wrong. The Rangers have now covered in 16 of the last 19 games as a puck line underdog. One of those was against this Carolina team on March 12.
So, maybe the line makers are right that the Canes should be the favorites in this series, but the Rangers as dogs has to be tempting for those that like underdogs with something to prove.