NHL
Mike Schultz
October 26, 2017

Vancouver Canucks vs. Washington Capitals: NHL Odds, Prediction

The Vancouver Canucks, fresh off their Eastern road trip, will play host tonight to the Washington Capitals. The ‘Nucks won four of the five away games they played in the last week, falling only to the Boston Bruins. The Sports Interaction oddsmakers have the home team listed as slight underdogs. Let’s take a closer look at this matchup.

Vancouver Canucks vs. Washington Capitals

When: Thursday, Oct 26th – 10ET
Where: Rogers Arena, Vancouver, BC
Moneyline: Capitals -145, Canucks +125

NHL Odds and Betting Analysis

According to statistical analysis of this game, these two teams present a decent match up. The Canucks’ lackluster offense sits at 23rd in the league and tonight faces the number 23rd ranked Washington defense. The imbalance is still glaringly present though, in terms of power play numbers. Vancouver’s PP is abysmal at just 10%, which puts them at 28th in the league. The Capitals are at 77 percent on the penalty kill.

As of this writing, Sports Interaction bettors are firmly backing the Caps in this contest, with 79 percent giving Ovechkin and company the win.

Washington Capitals

This is the first Western road trip game of three that the Caps have lined up. They’ll face the struggling Oilers in on Saturday then the Flames on Sunday before returning home. Washington has a 4-4-1 record so far this season, and three of the league’s top ten scorers. Ovechkin has ten goals in nine games, although seven of those goals are from the first two games of the season.

The Capitals can win this one, as the odds suggest, if they get good production from their major players: Ovie, Backstrom, and Kuznetsov. The team is well rested, and will be facing the road-weary Canucks. Goalie Braden Holtby is sitting at 2.31 GAA, and a 0.923 save percentage in his last six. In terms of injuries to the Caps roster, they’ll be missing Andre Burakovsky, Tyler Graovac and Matt Niskanen.

Vancouver Canucks

Vancouver loves their so-called goalie controversies. They’ve been playing switcheroo this season between Jacob Markstrom and Anders Nilsson, who is coming off a shut out game in Minnesota. Markstrom is more rested so will likely get the start tonight. The Canucks injured players going into this game are Alexander Edler and Troy Stecher.

Jake Virtanen has seen his star shining brighter lately. Not only has he invigorated the Sedin line with his presence, he’s notched two goals and an assist in his last 3, and got the GWG against the Wild earlier this week. The Caps own the dubious honor of having the 25th ranked penalty kill in the NHL, so if Vancouver can turn their power play game around, they could use this poor statistic to their advantage.