Arizona Coyotes vs Washington Capitals Prediction: Can the Capitals Move Out of the 8th Spot in the East?

Arizona Coyotes vs Washington Capitals Prediction: Can the Capitals Move Out of the 8th Spot in the East?

The NHL Season has about a week left in it and we know all the teams in the playoffs in the East but we don't know who they are playing as of yet. We have said this before: no one wants to play the Florida Panthers and will do anything to avoid them and that's what we have tonight as the Washington Capitals sit with 97 points and they are desperate to catch either the Bruins or Penguins who have 99 points and move out of that 8th seed.

The Capitals have been playing great other than a tough overtime loss to Las Vegas, (which we had as a big winner) they had won six out of seven before that, and tonight they play the WORST team in the NHL in Arizona (50 points) and when Washington plays bad teams like Montreal and Philly recently they don't mess around with 8-4 and 9-2 blowout scores. 

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Arizona Coyotes vs Washington Capitals Prediction

They say don't say anything if you can't find anything good to say about someone. Well, there's not much good to say about this Coyotes team at all. They started the year 0-10-1 and are now 0-7-1 there last 8 ending it and if they aren't playing out the schedule they sure aren't trying that hard to win. They have lost games this month 9-1,7-1  6-1, 5-1 (2x), 5-0, and 6-2. Those are not scores of a team trying or that scares anyone (they have been outscored 47-13 in the last 8 games).

Even worse, their goalie tonight  (Vejmelka) is 12-31 and gives up  3.67 goals a game, they are almost last in every offensive category, and the same defensively (they are the worst in sog and shots given up on goal). There is nothing this team does good but we have come up with one thing. They only lost 2-0 in the first meeting with the Capitals even though they gave up twice as many shots, that's a win in my book.  

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We go to the best road team in the NHL which is the Capitals (24-8) as they clearly want to end this road trip with a win and keep the pressure on the two teams they are trying to catch (Boston and Pittsburgh) to move out of the spot no one wants to be in. Sadly, Ovechkin has finally gotten his 50th goal as he has eight in his last eight games and has tied the record for most 50-goal seasons so that takes away that motivation for tonight. His next milestone will be achieved next year as it is 801 goals to become the second-leading goal scorer in the NHL (he needs 21 goals not happening this year).

With this team scoring at a crazy rate recently as they have scored at least three goals in their last eight games, they have gone over the total in ten of their last eleven road games and five and one there last six as a favorite. This team is highly motivated to play against a team with nothing to play for. We fully expect a blowout tonight in the 5-2 range to cover all goal-line spreads.

The Capitals are scoring goals at a tremendous rate recently and Arizona is giving them up at a crazy rate as they are also 6-0-1 over their last seven games. As we mentioned the scores and how they have been blown out all month. We fully expect the Capitals to end this road trip with a bang as they see how Boston is slumping and has to play the Rangers next so this is a chance to keep the pressure on and finally move out of that eight-spot that they clearly don't want.

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We are NOT going to lay -400 on Washington, we are going to trust the Capitals to win by two goals like they already have against Arizona as we lay the -1.5 goal line -145 available at DraftKings currently. Stay up late it's Friday night and let's see if the Capitals can blow out Arizona as we are predicting 5-2. Enjoy and let's enjoy this three-headed race to get out of the eight-spot in the East before the real fun of the playoffs begins next month.

Arizona Coyotes vs Washington Capitals Pick

Pick: Capitals -1.5 -145 (Bet $145 to win $100)