NHL Daily Predictions: November 2nd

It’s a busy Thursday with 12 games on the schedule Let’s take a look at our NHL Daily Predictions.

Here are tonight’s starting goaltenders, courtesy of LeftWingLock.

New York Rangers vs Tampa Bay Lightning: Alain Vigneault is stayin’ alive like his name was Barry Gib. 

The New York Rangers narrowly staved off what surely would have been their most humiliating defeat yet Tuesday night, scoring four unanswered goals in the third period to come from behind and top the Golden Knights 6-4.

Once again, the Blueshirts allowed the first goal of the game. Surprise, surprise, it came off the stick of former Ranger Oscar Lindberg. Because the laws of nature dictate that former Rangers score against their former team at an amazing clip. How many times in the last couple years have the likes of Viktor Stalberg, Lee Stempniak, Anthony Duclair, Ryan Callahan, and now Lindberg come back to haunt the Rangers?

It truly is remarkable how redundant Ranger games are to watch. Get down early, Lundqvist stands on his head and makes a slew of beastly saves only to be scored on off a rebound because his defense isn’t there to clear the puck, be forced to come back down late, Zibanejad, Buchnevich and Nash play well and Marc Staal plays too much. Rinse, wash, repeat.

The turnovers are awful. The defensive zone lapses are inexcusable. Being held to two goals through two periods by Maxime Lagace is a joke. Their head coach is a dead man walking, all they need is someone to pull the plug on the respirator.

But they won, so trust the process.

Tampa Bay is just about the polar opposite of New York right now. The Rangers are a pain to watch, floundering to equal the sum of their parts, while the Lightning are the most exciting team in hockey.

Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov are first and second in the NHL scoring race, respectively. Brayden Point continues to flourish in the second-line center role alongside Ondrej Palat. Every forward line has a legitimate scoring threat.

Milkhail Sergachev is making quite a name for himself on the Bolts’ second pair. Sergavhev now skates alongside Anton Stralman (another former Ranger who has become one of the game’s elite possession defensemen) on the second pair. He was the prospect the Lightning received in return for Jonathan Drouin this past offseason. In 13 games he has tallied 11 points.

Keep an eye on him come Calder voting.

Speaking of former Rangers, this will be the first time the Blueshirts will be facing Dan Girardi, longtime defenseman in New York. It won’t be the emotional reunion tonight as it will be when he eventually comes back to Madison Square Garden. It is a shame, because Girardi seems like a good guy and decent leader. His body broke down he lost a step and a half of speed and wasn’t making good reads towards the end of his Rangers tenure.

Instead of taking on opposing teams’ top lines and playing 25 minutes a night on the first pair with Ryan McDonagh, he’s playing sheltered third-pair minutes with Brayden Coburn. Much less is being asked of him, and he isn’t getting paid almost $6 million to be what he’s not.

My point? Given the trends, he’ll probably have a point tonight. So daily fantasy players in need of an assist will almost guaranteed get one tonight in Girardi.

Prediction: Take the Lightning to win. Play the over.

Golden Knights vs Bruins: I know this is going to be hard for you all to hear, so I’m just gonna come out and say it. Brace yourselves.

The Vegas Golden Knights have encountered their first losing streak in franchise history.

I know.

All it took was for three goaltenders to go down with an injury.

Even with Maxime Lagace in net, the Golden Knights were 20 minutes away from a road win over the Rangers on Tuesday night. Even still, the effort in front of the goaltender has been solid. Oscar Lindberg picked up his fifth goal of the season.

David Backes is out for several weeks for the Boston Bruins. He will be undergoing surgery to remove part of his colon. Ouch.

Backes leaving the Bs lineup only further complicates what was otherwise a tricky situation. The Bruins have stutterstepped out of the gate because of injuries and general malaise. Prospect Kenny Agostino has come and gone after a brief and unremarkable stint with the big club. Agostino was last year’s AHL MVP and has registered seven points in three AHL games this season, but failed to reach the scoresheet in five NHL games.

His 5:48 of ice time in a 65 minute hockey game against Columbus might have something to do with that.

Agostino is 25 and deserves time to develop, especially if he’s too good for the AHL. His game was flawed but the potential is there. But Bruce Cassidy has decided it’s button-pushing time. Which is fine, he has to go to the whip to keep this team afloat.

The problem is, who gives the Bruins a better chance to win?

Not Matt Beleskey, who will likely take Agostino’s place in the lineup.

Boston has a lot they need to work out, especially with star defenseman Torey Krug. Tonight is a good night to work out the kinks.

Prediction: Take the Bruins to win.

Islanders vs Capitals: I think it’s safe to say John Tavares has figured things out.

Roughly two weeks into the season, Tavares was a virtual ghost. He wasn’t getting shots to the net and his production had stalled.

Well, he’s got nine goals in his last five games. So there’s that.

I like that the line is so slanted against the Islanders. I’m willing to take a chance on them with their offense producing like it is.

The Isles have won three of their last four against the Caps.

Prediction: Take the Isles to win. Play the over.

Hurricanes vs Avalanche: I love me a home underdog, and Colorado is a +110 when they are 4-1 at home this year taking on the Carolina Hurricanes.

Thank you very much.

Prediction: Take the Avs to win. Play the under.

Sabres vs Coyotes: Sorry, the over/under is six? This will not be a high-flyin’ spectacle. This will be a drag.

Prediction: Take the Sabres to win. Play the stone-cold under.