Bruins Odds: Good Price On B’s Beating Rangers At Home In Regulation

The Boston Bruins have lost five of seven hockey games.

A slide like that raises questions inside an organization. It also makes betting prices more affordable in the micro. The latter is good news for anybody looking to bet the B’s on Thursday night at TD Garden.

Boston is a -180 favorite against the New York Rangers, meaning you have to risk $180 to win $100 and collect $280. That price is still too expensive and I would never advise you to regularly lay anything over -120. The juice, or betting tax, is just deadly.

Let’s say you make four $100 bets at -180 and split 50/50.

(W) +$100(L) -$180(L) -$180(W) +$100

You have two wins and two losses, but you’re down 160 bucks. Sheesh.

Luckily, we can get creative. If you hate -180 as much as I do, you can bet the Bruins to win in regulation. You lose no matter what if the game goes to overtime, but the wager is much more cost effective. You can find a couple shops at Boston -117 to win the game inside 60 minutes.

Now you’ve only got to risk $117 to win $100 for almost the same bet. And let’s be honest, if the game does go to overtime, you probably don’t deserve to win anyways. Especially against the lowly Rangers.

New York struggles against teams that actually play defense and I expect those struggles to continue in Boston against what should be an extremely focused Bruins club. The B’s have won three of four meetings (all in New York) this season and I sense some serious urgency on the ice.

The Rangers are still without the services of winger Artemi Panarin. He participated at practice Wednesday, but head coach David Quinn said he won’t play Thursday. Panarin hasn’t laced ’em up since taking a leave of absence from the team back on Feb. 22.

I like Boston to play a spirited 200-foot game at home. They’ve got New York’s number and I don’t expect that to change. This could be one of those 3-1 or 4-1 wins where the B’s control the entire way.

Bruins in regulation -117

RECORD: (21-12, +7.7)

Predict the Game returns to NESN on Thursday night. Our first question goes live at 6:30 p.m. ET on “Bruins Face-Off Live” and throughout the night, you’ll see predictive hockey questions to answer on our broadcast. The participant who scores the most points during the B’s-Rangers game will win an autographed David Pastrnak St. Patrick’s Day sweater.

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Thumbnail photo via Bruce Bennett/Pool Photo/USA TODAY Sports Images