Scoreboard	1	2	3	OT	Odds
Boston Bruins 33-16-5-2	2	0	1	1	+5.5
Washington Capitals 36-15-3-2	2	0	1	0	-141

Boston Bruins vs. Washington Capitals Game 2 Prediction, NHL Odds

Andrew Rogers
Last Updated: May 17, 2021

The Washington Capitals were kings of the one-goal victory during the regular season, and have successfully carried that trend over into the Stanley Cup playoffs. A 3-2 OT win in Game 1 has the Capitals in the driver’s seat as they host the Boston Bruins in Game 2 of their first-round postseason series Monday night at Capital One Arena. No team was more successful in close games than the Capitals, who boasted a .760 winning percentage in one-goal affairs.

Bruins vs. Capitals Betting Analysis

Boston is nearly an identical favourite as it was in Game 1, when it lost despite being installed at -132. While the Bruins had a successful season en route to a third-place finish in the East Division standings, they posted a dismal .444 winning percentage in one-goal games – and with the tight-checking, close-score nature of the playoffs, that might bode poorly for them. Boston has now lost 12 of its last 15 visits to D.C., and 14 of the past 20 meetings overall.

The total for Game 2 is installed at 5.5, and despite the low-scoring Game 1 result, two-thirds of Sports Interaction bettors are taking the Over at +118 (with the U5.5 the more widely-expected outcome at -141). Five of Boston’s previous six road games have come in below the number, while the Capitals are on a five-game Under streak at Capital One Arena and have seen an average of just 4.3 goals scored over their previous three games.

Boston Bruins

Goal scoring was a modest concern for the Bruins during the regular season; they finished a distant fourth in the division in goals with 168, which was 28 fewer than the East-leading Pittsburgh Penguins and 23 fewer than the Capitals. And they’ve hit an offensive slump at the worst possible time, having scored just three times in back-to-back losses to the Capitals. What’s worse, they’ve produced an average of only 25.5 shots per game in those defeats.

Washington Capitals

Timely and balanced scoring has been a staple of this Capitals team, which is now a -122 favourite to claim the series victory (with the Bruins listed at -101). A dozen players finished with eight or more goals during the regular season, and it was depth forward Nic Dowd’s turn to play the hero in Game 1 as his overtime tally gave the Capitals an early series lead. T.J. Oshie added two assists despite moving from winger to third-line centre with Evgeny Kuznetsov out.