The Stanley Cup Final heads to Washington for Game 3 on Saturday night, with the best-of-seven series between the Vegas Golden Knights and Washington Capitals tied 1-1. The Golden Knights won a sloppy, high scoring Game 1 by a score of 6-4, while the Capitals won a better played 3-2 contest in Game 2. The series now shifts to D.C. for Games 3 and 4. Let’s take a look at Saturday’s contest and Stanley Cup picks.
At 8 p.m. ET, tune into NBCSN for live television coverage of this NHL game on Saturday, June 2, 2018, at Capital One Arena.
We'll have NHL odds at BookMaker.eu available for every game of the Stanley Cup Finals.
Game 3 Odds – Washington -133, total 5.5
If the Washington Capitals go on to win this series then the save that goaltender Braden Holtby made with two minutes left in Game 2 will go down as the best save in Capitals history. Holtby robbed Alex Tuch with two minutes left and the Capitals held on to win 3-2. "Holts just makes the save of the year," Washington forward Jay Beagle said after the game. "Maybe the save of a lifetime. It's unreal."
The Capitals are just 4-5 at home during the playoffs which is very surprising, considering Washington was an excellent home team during the regular season. Washington may have to win without leading scorer Evgeny Kuznetsov who suffered an upper-body injury in Game 2. "I don't know how it's going to be," said Capitals winger T.J. Oshie to the media. "It'll be a big loss, but as you saw in the Pittsburgh series when Nick went down, sometimes that kind of energizes some other guys to get in there and be able to make some plays. So, we'll roll with the punches, we'll see what happens, but we're hoping that he's OK."
The Golden Knights are confident that they can rebound from the Game 2 loss. "I think it's really important that we take a step back and take a deep breath and know that you're not going to win this series in two games," Vegas defenseman Nate Schmidt said to the media, "We're a special group. We can go out and win games on the road. We've done it all playoffs."
Game Notes
The Stanley Cup Final is tied 1-1 for just the third time in the last 13 seasons. The Capitals are trying to become only the second team in NHL history to win the Stanley Cup after trailing in all four playoff series. Winning Game 3 is critical as the winner of Game 3 when a series is tied 1-1 goes on to win the Stanley Cup about 80% of the time.
Key Stats
The Golden Knights are 25-7 in their last 32 after scoring 2 goals or less in their previous game. The Golden Knights are 6-2 in their last 8 road games. The Golden Knights are 1-4 in their last 5 games playing with two days of rest. The Capitals are 6-2 in their last 8 after allowing 2 goals or less in their previous game. The Capitals are 17-8 in their last 25 games playing with two days of rest.
Looking at the total, the Under is 4-0-1 in the Golden Knights last 5 road games. The Under is 3-1-2 in the Capitals last 6 home games.
Free NHL Picks
I am coming off a sweep with the Game 2 picks, as I had the Capitals and the under. I have been surprised at how much Washington has struggled at home in the playoffs, but I think that ends in this series. The Capitals were 28-13 at home in the regular season and Vegas was just 22-19 on the road. I still think the Capitals are the better team and will win this series and to do that the numbers say they need to win Game 3. I will take the Capitals to win on Saturday night.
NHL Odds: Take the Capitals to Win Game 3
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