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The New York Rangers head to PPG Paints Arena to face the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday, January 31, 2026, with a 3:30 PM start time on ABC. These teams are moving in opposite directions right now. Pittsburgh is 27-14-11 and sitting second in the Metropolitan Division after ripping off five straight wins. The Rangers are 22-27-6 and buried at the bottom of the Eastern Conference, with losses in five of the last six and 10 of the last 12.
This is also one of those games where the “what are they doing organizationally?” angle matters. New York has been sitting Artemi Panarin for roster management and trade reasons, and the lineup has looked like a team just trying to get through the night. Pittsburgh, meanwhile, is getting goals from everywhere, and that’s usually when a favorite becomes playable even at a stiff price.
The betting market agrees with the direction of travel. Pittsburgh is priced like the clearly better team, and the question for bettors is whether there’s any value left on the moneyline or if the smarter approach is puck line or a correlated total angle based on how the Rangers are expected to generate offense, or fail to.
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New York Rangers vs Pittsburgh Penguins Odds
These are the current betting lines, and bettors should always monitor updates because prices can move quickly with confirmed goalies and late lineup changes. Before placing a bet, it’s worth checking the latest NHL odds.
| Team | Moneyline | Puck Line | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York Rangers | +170 | +1.5 (-164) | O 6.5 (+100) |
| Pittsburgh Penguins | -200 | -1.5 (+134) | U 6.5 (-122) |
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New York Rangers Betting Form
The Rangers are in a bad place, and it’s not just the results. It’s the way they’re losing. They’ve had nights where the effort is fine, even competitive, and it still feels like they’re playing with half a lineup because, well, they sort of are. Igor Shesterkin being out changes everything about their floor, and Adam Fox missing takes away the one defenseman who can quietly fix bad shifts by moving the puck cleanly. When you’re missing that much, you start spending extra time in your own end, and totals and puck lines get touchy.
The other layer is the Panarin situation. Even if you don’t want to overreact to one name, he’s still a premium play-driver and a power-play weapon. Sitting him turns the Rangers into a team that needs ugly goals and rebounds to score, and that’s not a fun profile as a big underdog. The projected starter is Jonathan Quick again, and if you’ve been betting New York lately you know how thin the margin feels when they need saves to stay alive.
If you want to track how the Rangers are trending spot to spot, the New York Rangers stats and results page lays it out clearly. Availability matters here, so monitor the New York Rangers injury report before puck drop.
Pittsburgh Penguins Betting Form
Pittsburgh is one of those teams that looks sharper every week, and I’ll admit I didn’t have them pegged as this kind of wagon. Five straight wins is one thing. The more convincing part is how they’re doing it: rolling lines, getting secondary scoring, and actually burying teams when they get a lead. Their 6-2 win over Chicago was a good example. They didn’t just squeak by, they poured it on once the game opened up.
There are real lineup notes to watch, though. Bryan Rust is still serving his suspension, and Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang have been listed as questionable. If either sits, it changes how Pittsburgh looks on the power play and how clean their exits are. Still, the projected lineup has them starting Stuart Skinner, and that matters for totals. With league-average goaltending, Pittsburgh can play a more aggressive game because they aren’t terrified of every rush chance turning into a goal.
For a broader view of Pittsburgh’s recent form and splits, the Pittsburgh Penguins schedule and stats page is a good reference. And because Pittsburgh’s status report is doing a lot of work right now, keep an eye on the Pittsburgh Penguins injury report leading into puck drop.
New York Rangers vs Pittsburgh Penguins Matchup Breakdown
This matchup starts with one simple question: how are the Rangers going to score enough to threaten Pittsburgh? At 5-on-5, New York has struggled to create clean looks consistently, and without their full top-end lineup, they’re leaning on grinding shifts and hoping for a bounce. That’s not impossible. It’s just hard to sustain for 60 minutes on the road against a team that’s currently playing fast and confident.
Pittsburgh’s edge is pace and depth. They can get you into uncomfortable minutes where your third pair is stuck defending in-zone, and that’s where penalties happen, tired clears happen, and suddenly you’re defending again. If the Penguins get the first goal, it’s not just “they’re leading.” It’s that the Rangers then have to open up, and that’s when their structure tends to crack.
A few angles I’m weighing for side and total:
- If Quick starts and is merely average, New York still needs goals they haven’t been generating.
- If Pittsburgh gets power-play volume, the puck line becomes far more realistic than the moneyline price suggests.
- If Malkin or Letang sits, Pittsburgh can still win comfortably, but it can slightly lower the ceiling on a blowout script.
If you want a sharper framework for weighing puck line versus moneyline versus totals in spots like this, the NHL betting guide is worth revisiting. And with the calendar moving toward the stretch where teams start behaving differently based on their true goals, I also think it’s useful to keep the bigger picture in mind with Stanley Cup betting angles, especially when a team like New York looks like it’s shifting into asset-management mode.
NHL Lines Before the Puck Drops
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New York Rangers vs Pittsburgh Penguins Predictions and Best Bets
My lean is Pittsburgh, and it’s not subtle. The -200 moneyline is expensive, but it’s expensive for a reason. The Penguins are the better team in current form, they’re at home, and they’re facing a Rangers lineup that is missing foundational pieces and operating with one foot in the trade-rumor world. That’s not a stable environment to walk into Pittsburgh and play a clean road game.
The question is how to bet it without donating value. I’m more interested in Pittsburgh -1.5 at plus money than laying -200, because this feels like the type of game where the Penguins can break it open in the second period if New York takes penalties or gets stuck defending shift after shift. And yes, it can land 3-2 and burn you, so I get the hesitation. I just think the way these teams are trending makes a one-goal Rangers loss less likely than the market is implying.
On the total, I lean Over 6.5 slightly, and it’s mostly because the Rangers’ best path to scoring is messy goals and special teams, not clean 5-on-5 offense. That can still cash an Over if Pittsburgh does their part, and lately they’ve been happy to do their part. If you prefer a safer stance, the side is still where I’d put my money, and I’d rather live with the price than get cute with a total that needs New York to contribute.
Best Bet: Pittsburgh Penguins puck line -1.5 (+134).
NHL Picks and Handicappers on ScoresAndStats
If you’re betting NHL daily, the edge comes from volume and comparison, not just one take. The easiest way to stay plugged into the slate is the today’s NHL picks page, especially when you’re deciding whether your read is aligned with the market or actually different enough to matter.
It also helps when you can verify results without guessing who’s legit. That’s why the top sports handicappers page matters, and the handicapper leaderboard is where you can quickly see who’s producing long term and what kind of bets they’re winning with.
And if you want to go beyond free plays, you can scale up with premium NHL picks and follow specialists who treat this like a market every day. For more matchup coverage across the league as you build your card, the NHL previews hub is a solid place to keep everything organized game to game.
