NHL odds, picks and bets on Wednesday

Once again, it seems like the betting market is a bit skeptical about the New York Rangers.

Coming back with essentially the same team that won a Presidents' Trophy last spring and came within two wins of the Stanley Cup Final, one would have expected the bookmakers to have the Blueshirts as one of the clear favorites for Lord Stanley next June.

Not only were the Rangers the best team of the regular season, they are also a crowd favorite when it comes to betting and bookmakers usually put a lot of emphasis on such teams.

And yet the Rangers are essentially co-favorites alongside the New Jersey Devils and Carolina Hurricanes to win the Metropolitan Division and their over/under is “just” 100.5 points, which is well below the 114 they have in the achieved last season.

That doesn't mean the bookies rate the Blueshirts as bad, but compared to how they are viewed by fans, pundits and the mainstream media, they may just be disappointing.

It's a familiar song and dance for this team.

However, it looks like the Rangers will get their due recognition ahead of their season opener against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday night.

The Blueshirts are considered a -140 favorite at the time of this writing, and that feels about right considering they're on the road and add in the unpredictability of opening night.

The only bet that immediately caught my eye was that this game goes to overtime at +360.

The best path to success for Pittsburgh in this game – and this season – is to play a more conservative style of hockey to guard against a lack of offensive prowess.

Betting on the NHL?

Sidney Crosby is still elite, but he's on something of an island in this lineup, so the Penguins will look to avoid a back-and-forth with a more talented team like the Blueshirts.

This should slow the game down significantly, making it more valuable that it lasts longer than 60 minutes.

THE GAME: Rangers-Penguins regular season draw (+360, FanDuel).

Why you should trust New York Post Betting

Michael Leboff hampers the EPL, NHL, golf and everything else that isn't the NFL and NBA for the NY Post. It increased by 49.73 units with a stake of EPL and has an ROI of 7.17%.