Philadelphia Flyers vs. Washington Capitals Prediction, NHL Odds
It’s not all football on Sunday as the Flyers and Capitals both try to end two game losing streaks when Philadelphia travels to Washington for a matinee matchup before the Super Bowl.
The Flyers are slim -115 favourites to win on the NHL odds with a total of 6.0 goals.
Flyers vs. Capitals Betting Analysis
It makes sense that Philadelphia would be the favourite in this game as the Flyers have taken four straight meetings between these teams, including four of five total meetings last season.
The Flyers have done well covering this season, going 8-4 against the spread. Philadelphia has matched that number on the Over/Under, hitting the Over in eight of 12 games.
Washington has had no trouble scoring goals this year. The Capitals have hit the Over in eight of 11 games overall, including five times at home. The Caps have also gone 8-3 ATS, covering five times at home and three times on the road.
Philadelphia Flyers
If it wasn’t for the Boston Bruins, the Flyers would be leading the Eastern Division. Philadelphia has dropped four games to Boston this year, including two straight on Wednesday and Friday. In the first two periods of all four games this season, both teams have scored four goals. It’s the third period, however, that has hurt Philly. The Flyers have given up third period leads in three of four games against Boston and been outscored 11-5 in the final frame. Outside of Boston, Philadelphia has only dropped one of eight games, so a match with Washington could put them back in the win column. In the absence of Carter Hart, Brian Elliott stopped 21 of 23 shots in the Flyers 2-1 loss to Boston on Friday. Hart is considered day-to-day with an undisclosed injury after leaving practice early on Friday. The Flyers are being led offensively by the unlikely trio of James van Riemsdyk, Kevin Hayes and Joel Farabee. All three are tied for the team lead in goals with six apiece, while van Riemsdyk leads the team with 16 points in 12 games.
Washington Capitals
Alex Ovechkin scored his 709th career goal, passing Mike Gartner for seventh place on the NHL all time list, but it wasn’t enough in Washington’s 4-2 loss to the New York Rangers on Thursday. Nicklas Backstrom assisted on the goal for his team-leading 11th point of the season. Vitek Vanecek stopped 27 of 30 shots in the loss, bringing his record to 5-2-2 on the season. Vanecek has been running with the crease since Ilya Samsonov was placed on the COVID-19 protocol list. In nine starts Vanecek has a 2.95 goals against average and .911 save percentage.
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