The Washington Capitals will be looking for their third straight victory when they take on the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday evening. This is the first of back-to-back contests between these two teams.
Here you can find the best picks, news, and stats for this East Division battle at Capital One Arena in Washington DC. Washington is the favorite at -179. This according to PointsBet Sportsbook, which puts Philadelphia at +160 as the underdog.
Philadelphia will be without Isaac Ratcliffe, Kirill Ustimenko, Shayne Gostisbehere, and Tanner Laczynski. Goaltender Carter Hart is also out. Washington has five players listed as questionable for Friday nightโs game, including Tom Wilson, Daniel Sprong, Alex Ovechkin, Ilya Samsonov, and Justin Schultz. Michal Kempny and Evgeny Kuznetsov are both out.
Penguins Crush Flyers
Pittsburgh jumped out to a 3-0 lead less than six minutes into the second period on their way to a 7-3 victory. Claude Giroux had two assists for the Flyers. Justin Braun, Sean Couturier, and Travis Konecny each scored for Philadelphia. Brian Elliott allowed six goals on 30 shots.
Philadelphiaโs 15th in goals per game at 2.85 and are 16th in shooting percentage at 9.4%. The Flyers are 19th on the power-play at 19.5%. Jakub Voracek is the team leader in points with 43, and also leads the Flyers with 34 assists. Joel Farabee is the team leader in goals with 17.
Philadelphia is last in the NHL in goals allowed per game at 3.60 and they are 30th in penalty killing at 71.9%. Expect Elliott in the net again on Friday. He is 13-9-2 with a 3.15 GAA and a .886 save percentage
Oshie Leads Capitals in Fight Marred Contest
T.J. Oshie scored a hat trick to lead Washington to a 4-2 victory over New York. The contest was marred by several fights in retaliation for a hit by Tom Wilson earlier in the week. Nic Dowd scored the other goal. Vitek Vanecek stopped 19 of 21 shots for the victory.
Washington is second in the NHL in goals per game at 3.43 and is first in shooting percentage at 11.8%. The Capitals are third on the power-play at 26.2%. Nicklas Backstrom continues to lead this team in scoring with 53 points. Ovechkin is first in goals with 24 with Oshie close behind at 21.
Washington is 18th in goals allowed per game at 2.93 and is seventh on the power-play at 83.4%. Look for Vanacek back between the pipes. He is 20-9-4 with a 2.73 GAA and a .907 save percentage. Vanecek has allowed five total goals over his last two starts but had allowed five goals in two of his three previous starts.
Trends:
Philadelphia:
- 1-4 in their last five.
- 5-13 in their last 18 games against teams with a winning record.
Washington:
- 21-5 in their last 26 games as the favorite.
- 25-10 in their last 35 games.
The Capitals have won the last five meetings between these teams and the favorite is 16-6 in the last 22 meetings. Philadelphia is in a slump, losing four of their last five games while Washington is flying high. They are tied for the top record in the East Division, and would likely much rather face the Islanders than the Bruins in that opening round. Look for them to come out with a whole lot of fire.
Pick: Take Washington at -179.
The Total:
These teams have gone over in four straight meetings in Washington and have gone over in four straight meetings overall. Philadelphia has gone over in five of their last six games while Washington has gone over in 10 of their last 14 overall. With Elliot struggling of late, I expect the high-scoring game.
Pick: Go over 6.0 at -120.