The Washington Capitals begin a three-game West Coast road trip on Tuesday night, as they visit the Anaheim Ducks in a game that can be seen on NBCSN. The Capitals are coming off a good performance in the Stadium Series on Saturday, as they routed Toronto 5-2, while the Ducks were home against Chicago on Sunday. The Capitals lead the Metropolitan Division, while the Ducks are barely hanging on to the last playoff spot in the Western Conference.
This war on the ice will go down Tuesday, March 6, 2018, at 10 p.m. ET at Honda Center. The game will be televised live on NBCSN.
We'll have NHL odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the NHL Tuesday schedule.
Odds Analysis
The Capitals did just about everything right on Saturday, as they won 5-2 against Toronto at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in the NHL’s Stadium Series. Goaltender Braden Holtby broke a six-game losing streak and he still has the confidence of head coach Barry Trotz. The Capitals need Holtby to play at a high level if they are to be serious Stanley Cup contenders. The Capitals have one of the best goal scorers in NHL history in Alex Ovechkin who scored his 40th goal of the season on Saturday, but to win in the playoffs they need Holtby.
The Capitals are just 14-17 on the road this season, with 21 games going over and 10 going under the total. They are scoring 3.1 goals per game and giving up 3 per contest.
The Ducks have played better of late, as they were 5-1-1 in their last seven games before Sunday’s contest against Chicago. They finally have John Gibson back in goal and playing well. Anaheim made a couple of moves at the trading deadline, as they got Jason Chimera from the Islanders and they signed Chris Kelly who captained Team Canada in the Olympics.
Anaheim has been winning thanks to great penalty killing. They had killed off 19 straight penalties before Sunday’s game and they have allowed just one power play goal in the last 30 chances. “Obviously when you win the special teams game, you have a very good chance of winning the game,” Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said to the media recently.
Anaheim was 17-14 in their first 31 home games, with 12 games going over the total, 18 going under, with one push. They are scoring about 2.7 goals per game and giving up about 2.7 per contest.
Special Teams
The Capitals are 5th on the power play at just over 22%, while they are 18th in penalty killing at about 80%. The Ducks are just 24th in the league on the power play at just over 17%, while they are 7th in penalty killing at just about 83%.
Key Stat
The Capitals have won 7 of the last 10 in this series including 3-2 at home earlier this season. Two of the last three meetings have gone over the total. The Capitals have had a lot of success in Anaheim recently, winning six of the last seven, but they did lose 5-2 at Honda Center last year.
Free NHL Picks
This looks like a very even matchup between two teams with similar numbers. I lean a little bit toward the Capitals in this contest, as I think they have had plenty of time to get ready for this game after playing on Saturday. I also think the Capitals are simply the better team and there is no doubt the series trends are in their favor. The total is interesting, as the Capitals play a lot of high scoring games on the road, but the Ducks play low scoring games at home. I will go with the Washington trends and take the Capitals and the game over the total.
NHL Odds: Capitals 4, Ducks 3
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