The New York Rangers and Detroit Red Wings will complete their home-and-home match Thursday night with a showdown in MoTown.

The Blueshirts won the first leg 4-1, although that score flatters the winners a bit.

That’s not to say Rangers didn’t deserve the two points, just that it wasn’t as one-sided as the final score suggests. The expected goals (xG) at 5-on-5 ended up being 2.1 to 1.7 in Detroit’s favor.

Is the betting market underestimating the Wings’ chances in Game 2 of this home-and-home?

Rangers vs. Red Wings Prediction

The formula for the Rangers likely won’t change much this season.

The Blueshirts are elite on special teams and have one of the best goaltenders in the world.

That means the Blueshirts can get away with foot results at 5-on-5 and still have a lot of success. That methodology earned them a Presidents’ Trophy in 2023-2024.

The Red Wings don’t have the luxury of having Igor Shesterkin, but they were also a top-10 team on the power play last season and were above average on penalty kill.

That makes sense when you consider that the top of the roster includes players like Dylan Larkin, Patrick Kane, Alex deBrincat and Moritz Seider.

Detroit’s main problem is its lack of depth, especially on the blueline. Moritz Seider and Simon Edvinsson should be on their way to becoming great top-four defensemen, but their supporting cast could use a lot of help.

The way the Wings have tried to protect against this mistake is by playing low-event hockey, which allows them to hang in games. I expect more of the same in this game and in the future.

Betting on the NHL?

This will be a battle of contrasting styles, as the Blueshirts want to open this game up and make it a back-and-forth affair, while the Red Wings want the opposite.

That could lead to it being a pretty stiff affair, which should be pretty close everywhere. It attaches importance to supporting this match to reach extra time with odds of +360.

The bet: Regular Draw (+360, FanDuel)

Why trust New York Post betting

Michael Leboff handicaps the EPL, NHL, golf and everything else that isn’t the NFL and NBA for the NY Post. He is up 49.73 units betting on EPL with an ROI of 7.17%.