Washington Capitals vs. Boston Bruins Prediction, NHL Odds
After 14 seasons as captain of the Bruins, Zdeno Chara’s return to Boston was a successful one as the Capital’s finished with a 2-1 shootout win. Boston will look to even the season series at two games apiece on Friday, in the second matchup of this two-game set and the fourth game between these teams this season.
The Bruins are -140 favourites to win on the NHL odds with a total of 6.0.
Capitals vs. Bruins Betting Analysis
This has been an incredibly tight season series. Washington has won two of the three games in extra time, while Boston picked up a 5-3 win in regulation. The total has gone Over twice. Washington is 17-3 straight up in their last 20 games in Boston.
The Capitals have been comfortable on the road this year, picking up six wins outside of Washington and recording a point in eight of their 10 road games. Washington is 13-9 against the spread overall, covering six times on the road. The Caps’ have hit the Over in half of their road games.
Boston has thrived at TD Garden. The Bruins have won five of seven home games, covering the spread and hitting the Over in three of those games. It’s been a tough road if you’ve been siding with the Bruins on the spread overall, however, as Boston is 5-15 ATS on the season.
Washington Capitals
The Caps come into Friday on a four-game winning streak as they also look for their fifth straight win on the road. It took more than two full periods before Washington found the back of the net on Wednesday. Lars Eller’s fifth goal of the season sent the game to extra time. Jakub Vrana had the lone goal in the shootout. T.J. Oshie actually scored for Washington in the first period, but the goal was called back after Boston challenged that the play was offsides. Vitek Vanecek stopped 18 of 19 shots he faced.
Despite the tight defensive game, it was an eventful night for Alex Ovechkin on Wednesday. Ovechkin, who recorded a game-high five shots, was fined $5,000 by the NHL for spearing Bruins forward Trent Frederic in the third period. He picked up a minor slashing penalty on the play. It was Ovechkin’s second penalty of the game after picking up an interference call in a collision with Boston defenceman Charlie McAvoy. Ovechkin was slow to get up after the collision and looked to hurt his leg on the play.
Boston Bruins
Boston didn’t seem to be able to generate any offence on Wednesday, only managing to record 19 shots on goal. David Pastrnak’s team-leading 10th goal of the season was the lone marker for the Bruins. After missing the first seven games of the season because of off-season hip surgery, Pastrnak has recorded 19 points (10G, 9A) in 13 games. Pastrnak, Jake DeBrusk and Brad Marchand all failed to score in the shootout. Marchand leads the Bruins with 24 points (10G, 14A) in 20 games. Tuukka Rask looked solid, stopping 27 of 28 shots he faced in regulation and OT, but was denied his 300th career win.
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