Washington Capitals vs Boston Bruins Prediction: Get Ready for Offense in Beantown Tonight

Washington Capitals vs Boston Bruins Prediction: Get Ready for Offense in Beantown Tonight

Familiar foes do battle in Beantown tonight as the Capitals visit the Bruins. These teams were division rivals last year and split in 8 regular season games with 6 games going over a total of 5.5. They also met in the 1st round of the playoffs with Boston winning in five after the Capitals took Game 1 at home in overtime. In this season's only meeting the Bruins took it to the Capitals in Washington winning 7-3 on January 10th.

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Washington Capitals vs Boston Bruins Prediction

The Capitals are off a 4-3 comeback overtime win at home vs Winnipeg on Tuesday night.  Washington currently sits in third place in the Metro Division with a 22-9-9 record, good for 53 points. The Capitals have been inconsistent since the break as they have a 4-3-2 record. The Bruins are off an embarrassing 7-1 home loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night, a game which saw goaltender Tuuka Rask get pulled after giving up 5 goals on 12 shots in the 1st period. On the season, the Bruins are 4th in a very tough Atlantic Division with a 22-12-2 record, good for 46 points. Since the break, the Bruins are 8-2 and have averages. Let's get into tonight's matchup.

Washington is missing some key pieces on their back end. Defensemen John Carlsson is in Covid Protocol and Dmitriy Orlov is serving the first game of a two-game suspension. These losses will not make defending Boston's offensive attack an easy task. On the road this season, the Capitals are averaging 3.16 goals per game (10th most) and they are giving up 2.58 goals per game (sixth least). Washington is 12-7 to the over in their 19 road games this year. Overall, since the Covid break, the Caps are averaging 2.78 goals per game while allowing 3.33 goals per game. Vitek Vanecek is confirmed to start in goal tonight, on the season he has a 2.49 GAA along with a .911 save%. In eight career appearances vs the Bruins Vitek has a 3.06 GAA and a .897 save%, pretty pedestrian numbers.

Despite only scoring one goal in their previous game Boston's offense has been on fire since the covid break. In their 10 games, the Bruins are averaging 4.1 goals per game. After only scoring 4 goals in his first 17 games, sniper David Pastrnak has scored 8 goals in his last 8 games which has catapulted the Bruins' offensive attack. Overall at home this season, the Bruins are averaging 2.90 goals per game (22nd) and 2.90 goals against per game (13th most). Linus Ullmark gets the call in net for the Bruins and his numbers are worse at home than they are on the road. On home ice, Linus has a 2.67 GAA with a .903 Sv%. In 8 career starts against the Caps (although 7 were with the Sabres) Ullmark has a 2.94 GAA with a .896 save percentage.

The Capitals power play, especially on the road, has been a major issue for this team. This can be attributed to all the injuries they have dealt with. Their road power play is an abysmal 11.5%.  Five on Five, however, the Caps have scored 93 goals which is fourth-most in the league so they can produce goals without the power play clicking. Boston's home power play is clicking at a 25.4% rate which is eighth highest in the league. I can see at least 6 goals in the game as both offenses will look to make up for past performances on Boston tonight.

Washington Capitals vs Boston Bruins Line Movement

Washington Capitals vs Boston Bruins Pick

• Over 5.5 -120 (Bet $120 to win $100)