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Ottawa Senators vs New York Rangers: Will the Rangers finish as the top seed in the East?

The New York Rangers are hosting the Ottawa Senators at Madison Square Garden on Monday.

The Senators are having a disappointing season

The Ottawa Senators are 14th in the Eastern Conference with a 36-40-4 record. They have won three of the last four games and are coming off a 5-4 shootout win over the Montreal Canadiens. The Senators are 17th in the league scoring 3.09 goals per game and are ranked 28th allowing 3.45 goals per game. Brady Tkachuk leads the team with 73 points so far in the season.

The Rangers are the team to watch

The New York Rangers are on top of the Eastern Conference with a 54-23-4 record. After losing back-to-back games against the New York Islanders and the Philadelphia Flyers, the Rangers bounced back with a 3-2 shootout win over the Islanders. The Rangers are second in the league, converting 26.7% of their power-play situations. They are ranked seventh in the league, scoring 3.38 goals per game and allowing 2.79. Aretmi Panarin is having a fantastic season, being fourth in the league with 118 total points and fifth with 48 goals and 70 assists.

Betting Trends

The Senators have won 4 of the last 5 games against the Rangers in New York. Ottawa is 8-4 SU in their last 12 games overall and 5-2 SU in the last 7 games against teams from the Metropolitan Division. The Rangers are 9-3 SU in their last 12 games overall and 14-4 SU in their last 18 games at home.

Prediction and Conclusion

The New York Rangers are on top of the East but have only one point more than the Carolina Hurricanes, with both teams having one game left on the regular season schedule. The Hurricanes are visiting the worst team in the conference, the Columbus Blue Jackets, in their last game, so the Rangers need to win this one in order to have the best record in the league, the top seed in the East, and home court advantage in every series in the playoffs. The Senators do not look like a threat that way, but we have to notice that they won the last two games and have won four of the last five games in MSG. However, there is a huge gap between these two teams this season, and the Rangers will show their full strength once again by beating the Senators tonight.