Penguins vs Rangers Pick: Saturday, January 30th

By Jimmy The Bag Jan 29, 2021

Penguins vs Rangers Pick: Saturday, January 30th: The Penguins are coming off losses at Boston 3-2 on Tuesday and 4-1 on Thursday. The losses weren’t the big blow, the big blow was losing hall of fame general manager Jim Rutherford, who resigned from his post earlier this week. There are rumors that Rutherford tried to trade Kris Letang and was not allowed by the ownership to do so. Trader Jim made 61 trades in 6 and a half years as General Manager and would stop at nothing to win. He won back to back cups with the Pens in 2016 & 2017. I see what he saw. This team needed change. The status quo was not good enough. Rebuild, move Letang or Malkin. Do something. With his hands tied he left the team and I’m sure he will be hired by someone quickly. This team, with this roster, may not make the playoffs for the first time since 2006, and are currently sitting in 4th in the NHL’s east division.

Meanwhile, the Rangers are coming off splitting 2 games at Buffalo Tuesday and Thursday. That came on the heels of losing games Friday and Sunday at Pittsburgh. Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider are off to very slow starts. Kaapo Kaako and Alexis Lafreniere don’t look good. A visit from the team that just swept them should help add some urgency. Artemi Panarin has looked great and Pavel Buchnevich has proved to mesh with Panarin nicely. I do believe both goaltenders are strong and I think we have a buy-low opportunity here.

Penguins vs Rangers Odds

The Penguins have just 1 win in regulation in their 8 games played so far this season, with 3 coming in overtime. The Penguins have been outscored by 0.75 goals per game, but have still managed to score at least 3 goals per game on average. Meanwhile, the Rangers are not much better, with just 1 win in regulation in their 7 games played, with a goal differential of -2 so far this season.