The New York Rangers enter the playoffs at a +105 underdog for the series against their tri-state rivals the New Jersey Devils. This will be the first meeting in the postseason between these two since the 2012 Eastern Conference Finals. The Devils won that series in six games and they are now expected to move on here again, but with the series price so low there is plenty of optimism for the Rangers and their fans.
New York showed everyone what they can achieve in the postseason last year when they seemed to have peaked a year early. They took the eventual champs to a game 7 and now have added pieces to finish their title run. The Blue Shirts still have goalie Igor Shesterkin, who can look like the best goalie in the league on any given night and the new acquisitions of Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko, give them more scoring options than ever. They of course will be joined by the stalwarts in Fox, Panarin and company.
This is an explosive team at times and if Igor looks anything like he did last season the plus money will look like a gift. Home ice won't matter as much as New Jersey would hope for since Rangers fans always travel well to the Garden State and should have a really good fanbase. The Devils also have a very inexperienced team, making their first playoff run since 2018, and while talented, still might be caught a little bit by surprise of how the NHL playoff landscape differs from the regular season. The Rangers and Devils have the closest series odds in the opening round. They played four close games this year and two went into overtime. This should be a great series.
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