Oilers-Rangers Over Hit As Late As Possible For An Incredible Betting Win… Or Soul-Crushing Loss

There was a real thrill of victory, agony of defeat moment for anyone who decided to bet on the over/under in Friday night's game between the Edmonton Oilers and New York Rangers.

The Rangers are the top dogs in the Metropolitan Division and they were hosting the Oilers, who have turned it around since the start of the season but are still down in the standing the Pacific Division. So, the Blueshirts went into the game, unsurprisingly, as the favorite.

In net, we saw a matchup between Rangers backup Jonathan Quick (who has been solid this year) and Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner, who has had such a rough season he spent a few games with the Bakersfield Condors of the AHL in a quest to regain his mojo. That coupled with the fact that there are some offensive weapons on both the rosters, means it made sense that the goal total over/under was set at 6.5.

New York Rangers left wing Will Cuylle's late, meaningless goal had a major impact on over/under bets. (Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Over Bettors Were Thrilled, Under Bettors Horrified To See Oilers Give Up Meaningless Goal As Late As You Can

They expectation was that there'd be a good bit of scoring, and that panned out. With just seconds left on the clock, the Oilers were up 4-2 with a nice win for both the team and Skinner everything but sealed.

Anyone who had the cajones to bet the Oilers moneyline (or puckline if they were playing it safe) was feeling good, as was anyone who bet the under.

However, the Rangers pressured late, and Will Cuylle smashed the souls of those under bettors by scoring a completely meaningless goal as late as you possibly can.

With 0.1 seconds on the clock.

You could hear the buzzer sounds as soon as the goal light turned on. A little freeze-frame action confirms that the puck did indeed cross the goalline with a tenth of a second to spare.

Anyone who bets on hockey is used to occasionally sweating it late like that because a late goal — especially when the net is empty — can often mean the difference between winning and losing a total or puckline bet.

Still, I can't recall such a late meaningless goal having as profound an impact on bettors. The emotional whiplash probably put anyone who bet either way in the hospital.

This is why I shy away from betting on totals. I've bet on a game with two sieves starting in the net only for them both to throw down Vezina-worthy performances. It feels like such a crapshoot.

In this case, any hesitation from a Ranger on that sequence and that puck doesn't hit the back of the net before the clock shows double 0s.

That must have been exhilarating or enraging depending on which side of the equation you were on.

Follow on X: @Matt_Reigle