NHL best bets: Hurricanes vs. Rangers Game 5 odds, preview, prediction for Mon. 5/13

Hurricanes vs. Rangers Odds

Monday, May 13, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN & ESPN+

Odds via bet365. Get up-to-the-minute NHL odds here.

Carolina Hurricanes

After squandering a two-goal lead in Game 4, the Hurricanes found themselves on the brink, but a timely power-play goal from Brady Skjei – their first of the series despite finishing the regular season as the NHL's second-best unit – propelled them to victory.

However, Saturday's performance didn't feel like a particularly momentum-shifting one for Carolina. The Hurricanes managed to capitalize on the Rangers' sloppy opening seven minutes, but New York had the better of the play for much of the remainder of the game, hitting several posts and ultimately clawing back before a late penalty proved to be the nail in the coffin.

Now, Carolina must find a way to earn a victory on the road, which has been hard to come by in recent years. Over the past four postseasons, the Hurricanes are 6-16 outside of PNC Arena and 0-5 at the Garden.

While the Hurricanes turned to goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov in Game 3, I expect them to continue to ride Frederik Andersen on Monday. Overall, he has been fine throughout the series, surrendering a handful of weak goals including Alexis Lafreniere's game-tying tally on Saturday.

To stay afloat, Carolina will need another massive performance from its top line of Jake Guentzel, Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov. They've combined for 16 points across the first four games of this series.

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New York Rangers

For the first time in this year's playoffs, we'll finally get to see how the Rangers respond to a loss. If it's anything like the regular season – during which they suffered consecutive losses on only six occasions – they can go ahead and punch their ticket to the Eastern Conference Finals.

After back-to-back overtime victories, New York's first defeat of the playoffs stung a bit given the nature of the game. The Rangers – with a 3-0 series lead – could've mailed it in after falling behind early in the first period, but they ultimately overcame a 3-1 deficit and were pressing late in the third period when the Hurricanes took the lead. Carolina was probably due to catch a break.

Still, the Rangers' performance on Saturday was generally encouraging. They settled in and fought back, and it was no surprise to see them start a bit slow playing on the road with a commanding series lead. I'm expecting a much better start from this battle-tested squad on Monday.

Despite losing his streak of fewer than four goals allowed in 30 straight playoff games, Igor Shesterkin continues to be the X factor in this series. He owns a .932 SV% and a 2.31 GAA. New York's advantage between the pipes cannot be overstated.

The Rangers will also be hoping Filip Chytil can return to the lineup for Game 5 after sitting out Game 4 with an undisclosed illness. Given Chytil's concussion history, there's some speculation he may have suffered a setback.

Hurricanes vs. Rangers

Betting Pick & Prediction

I'd have little faith in previous Rangers teams to close out this series – especially against a pesky opponent like the Hurricanes – but this year's hyper-focused group led by Peter Laviolette won't let Carolina hang around.

With New York's goaltending edge and knack for creating high-danger chances, there's a clear path to victory in a game that will likely feature more special teams opportunities than Game 4. Additionally, the series moving back to Madison Square Garden – where Laviolette has more control over his team's matchups – provides the Rangers a significant boost.

I'm expecting yet another tightly contested battle, but I've got the Rangers taking care of business in front of their home crowd. We're getting strong value at DraftKings with -105 odds.

Pick: Rangers Moneyline (-105 at bet365 | Play to -115)