NHL Thursday betting preview: Back the Rangers vs. shorthanded Flyers

Yet another split Monday means we're a bit stuck over the last week as we aim to build on a great February thus far.

We're on an 11-3 run and looking to improve on that mark Thursday.

Artemi Panarin and K'Andre Miller are slated to return to the lineup for the New York Rangers as they take on a Philadelphia Flyers team that's been idle since Feb. 7. Sitting at 4-7-3, this almost has the feel of a must-win for New York, which is hoping to avoid slipping too far down the East Division standings.

All things considered, though, the Rangers have been playing relatively well. They lost a pair of hard-fought one-goal games against the Boston Bruins despite controlling a greater portion of the expected goal share at five-on-five in each, which has been a common theme this season. Seven of their 10 losses have been by just a goal, so they're due for some better results.

This represents the perfect opportunity for the Rangers to begin adding to the win column as they get their Hart Trophy candidate back against a Flyers lineup that's ravaged by injuries. Philadelphia is without Claude Giroux, Jakub Voracek, Travis Konecny, Oskar Lindblom, Scott Laughton, and Justin Braun, and the team hasn't played in 11 days. If the Rangers can't win here, there's legitimate cause for concern.

Pick: Rangers (-105)

Have the Los Angeles Kings turned a corner? They've won back-to-back games by a combined 10-2, but the underlying numbers still haven't been pretty.

They were outplayed in a 6-2 win over the San Jose Sharks, benefitting from yet another Martin Jones horror show. They scored those six goals in the first and third periods despite just 1.08 expected goals, and the Sharks controlled 57.4% of the expected goal share at all strengths. And then in a 4-0 win on Tuesday, they benefitted from taking on a Minnesota Wild team that hadn't played in two weeks and looked like it had nothing in the tank.

So, the pair of positive results isn't scaring me off here, but rather inviting us to sell high on the Kings, who are dead last in the NHL in expected goal share at five-on-five with a putrid mark of just 41.32%. The Arizona Coyotes, meanwhile, are a very respectable 13th with a 51.61% share despite a really tough schedule that's had them play 11 of their first 15 games against the St. Louis Blues and Vegas Golden Knights.

It may seem like a lot of juice to lay with the Coyotes, but this is a bargain considering what the price would have been if not for a pair of fortunate results for the Kings over the past week.

Pick: Coyotes (-150)

(Odds source: theScore Bet)

Alex Moretto is theScore's supervising editor of sports betting. A journalism graduate from Guelph-Humber University, he has worked in sports media for over a decade. He will bet on anything from the Super Bowl to amateur soccer, despises how the NHL handles starting goalie announcements, and will never trust a kicker. Find him on Twitter @alexjmoretto.

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