Washington Capitals vs. New Jersey Devils Prediction, NHL Odds
The Capitals saw their early-season woes deepen with Tuesday’s 4-1 loss to Toronto, and have now been outscored by a 13-4 combined margin during their 0-3-0 run. The Devils return home after skating to a 5-2 win in Montreal on Tuesday night, but have work to do to snap a two-game swoon on home ice.
The Devils have vaulted to heavy -250 favourites on the Wednesday NHL odds, and sport short -105 puck line odds to earn the win by a multi-goal margin. The Capitals trail as +200 underdogs, and the total is listed at 6.5, with the OVER favoured with -130 odds.
Capitals vs. Devils NHL Betting Odds
Wednesday night’s matchup at Prudential Center marks the first of four scheduled meetings this season between these Metropolitan Division rivals. The Devils have claimed victory in three straight dates with Washington including a decisive 5-1 victory when the Capitals last visited in November 2022. With that win, the Devils snapped a six-game home losing streak against Washington. Recent dates between these teams have been hard fought, with four of their past six overall matchups getting settled by just a single goal.
Washington Capitals
The Capitals saw their early-season nightmare continue with Tuesday’s loss to the Maple Leafs. However, a lack of effort cannot be blamed for their latest defeat. Washington outshot the Leafs by a wide 37-17 margin, but had no answer for the Leafs’ vaunted attack that scored three times on just eight shots over a span of less than 10 minutes in the middle stanza. On a positive note, Alex Ovechkin finally potted his first goal of the season. However, this team needs far more from “Great 8” after scoring just six total goals in regulation over their first five games. After allowing 13 total goals over the past three games, goaltender Darcy Kuemper will have the night off. That opens the door for undrafted rookie Hunter Shepard to make his first career NHL start on Wednesday. A star during his college days at Minnesota-Duluth, Shepard compiled a solid 20-8-5 record with a 2.18 goals against average and .916 save percentage last season with AHL Hershey, and earned the win in each of his two starts with the Bears this season.
New Jersey Devils
The Devils endures another slow start in Tuesday’s visit to Montreal, spotting the Canadiens a 1-0 first-period lead before steadily seizing control of the contest. New Jersey has now surrendered the first goal in each of its five games to date, but have been hard to stop once they heat up, tallying five goals in each of their past two contests. Once again, it was Jack Hughes who provided the spark, tallying four assists, and has now racked up four goals and 14 points in just five games. Hughes was the setup man on each of Tyler Toffoli’s three goals against his former Montreal teammates, and has found the back of the net four times in the past two games. The Devils also enjoy the benefit of recent success when playing in the second date of games played on back-to-back nights, winning seven of their past nine, a trend that should continue against the beleaguered Capitals.
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