{"id":460768,"date":"2025-01-14T11:45:10","date_gmt":"2025-01-14T16:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=460768"},"modified":"2025-01-14T11:45:10","modified_gmt":"2025-01-14T16:45:10","slug":"nhl-predictions-jan-14-rangers-vs-avalanche","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/01\/14\/nhl-predictions-jan-14-rangers-vs-avalanche\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL Predictions: Jan.14 New York Rangers vs. Colorado Avalanche"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome back to NHL Predictions. Each day, Last Word on Hockey<\/em> takes a look at the games that are scheduled then offers insight and analysis to help predict who will be victorious in head-to-head matchups. Today we are looking at the game between the New York Rangers<\/a> vs. Colorado Avalanche.<\/a> Be sure to check out more NHL Predictions as the 2024-25 season continues.<\/p>\n

NHL Predictions<\/h3>\n

New York Rangers vs. Colorado Avalanche<\/strong><\/p>\n

Time<\/strong>: 9:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST)<\/p>\n

TV<\/strong>: SN360, ALT, MSG, KTVD; ESPN+<\/p>\n

For the first time this season the Rangers<\/a> (20-20-2) will face-off against the Avalanche<\/a> (26-17\u20131). This is the first of two games in 12 days between these two teams. In what use to be a battle of top teams in each conference, tonight the Rangers will be looking to prove they can still beat the leagues elite. The Avalanche should be up to the challenge.<\/p>\n

Shesterkin Return Leading to Rangers Wins<\/h3>\n

After missing four games with an injury Igor Shesterkin<\/a> returned for the Rangers January.9 against the New Jersey Devils<\/a>. He won that night. Then he beat the Vegas Golden Knights<\/a> two nights later to give the Rangers a mini two game win streak. Shesterkin hadn\u2019t looked himself in December losing seven of ten starts before missing those games due to injury. The Rangers will need more of his January form if they want to re-enter the playoff conversation.<\/p>\n

Another player starting to find his form for the Rangers has been Mika Zibanejad<\/a>. Since the calendar turned to 2025 Zibanejad has a point in all six of New York’s games. This has been a welcome sight for the Blueshirts as Zibanejad\u2019s performance had been underwhelming up until that point. If he can continue his hot streak maybe that can help jump start the Rangers power play.<\/p>\n

Blackwood Backstopping Avs to Success<\/h3>\n

The Avalanche enter tonight’s game with a record of 7-2-1 in their last 10 games. This stretch of play has gotten them within striking distance of a very strong top three in the Central Division. One of the main reasons for the Avalanche playing so well has been the play of their new starting goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood<\/a>. In 11 games played for Colorado he has gotten the win 8 times. He isn\u2019t just winning, he has allowed two goals or less in every game as an Av so far. With the offensive stars he has in front of him that is a great recipe for success.<\/p>\n

Perhaps there is one aspect overlooked during all the recent success Colorado has had as a team. Perennial Norris Trophy candidate Cale Makar<\/a> has been held pointless in the last four games. During that time was when the Avalanche picked up their two regulation losses during that ten game stretch. He is too talented to stay off the scoresheet for long so, expect a good game out of him tonight. Makar returning to his high scoring ways should also help a Avs’ power play that sits at an uncharacteristic mid-pack in the league.<\/p>\n

Prediction<\/h3>\n

Even with all of the high skilled players in this game the goalie battle may be the position to watch most closely. Both Shesterkin, and Blackwood seem to be playing their best hockey of the season. Shesterkin will likely have the tougher night having to face Nathan MacKinnon<\/a>\u2019s top line, and Makar who is looking to bust a slump. If Blackwood can continue to allow two goals or less tonight the Avalanche offence should take care of the rest.<\/p>\n

Prediction: Avalanche win 4-1<\/em><\/p>\n

Prop Bets of The Night<\/h3>\n

We close out NHL predictions with some prop bets. Lets focus on Colorado for the bets tonight. Mikko Rantanen<\/a> has scored 8 goals in 13 career games against the Rangers. He is +110 to score in the game tonight. Makar is unlikely to stay quiet for much longer. Take him to breakout, and score 1+ points tonight. The spread tonight is set at 1.5. The Av\u2019s -1.5 has odds of +134.<\/p>\n

Main photo: Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n

Please play responsibly, check for your local rules and age restrictions, some jurisdictions require ages 21+. Gambling\u00a0problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome back to NHL Predictions. Each day, Last Word on Hockey takes a look at the games that are scheduled then offers insight and analysis to help predict who will be victorious in head-to-head matchups. Today we are looking at the game between the New York Rangers vs. Colorado Avalanche. Be sure to check out […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5347,"featured_media":439431,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4524,28,4547,14,4548],"tags":[6085,6122],"class_list":["post-460768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nhl-predictions","category-avalanche","category-hockey","category-rangers","category-nhl","tag-colorado-avalanche-predictions","tag-new-york-rangers-predictions"],"modified_by":"Dan Mount, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5347"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=460768"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460768\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":460804,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460768\/revisions\/460804"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/439431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=460768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=460768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=460768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}