The Washington Capitals failing to defeat the Boston Bruins in their matchup on Wednesday night would involve bucking two recent betting trends in inter-divisional games.
The Capitals are 9-1 in their last 10 home games against teams from the Atlantic Division and, interestingly enough, the OddsShark NHL Database notes the Bruins are 1-9 in their last 10 road games against teams residing in the Metropolitan Division.
Each team is playing for the second night in a row, with the Bruins coming off a win against the Tampa Bay Lightning as -120 road favorites on the NHL betting lines at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com on Tuesday while the Capitals lost against the New York Islanders as -135 road favorites. Each team had to travel after its game.
Boston, which is 26-21-6 on the season, has struggled on the road, with just seven wins in their last 19 games away from home. The Bruins, who are bolstered up front by all-star forward Brad Marchand, have scored at least four goals in each of their last three games. Zdeno Chara and all-star goalie Tuukka Rask furnish Boston with a solid defense.
Washington is 33-11-6 on the season, including a 7-3 mark over its last 10 games. Potent forwards Alexander Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov have long been the headliners in the nation’s capital, but the reason the Capitals have the best record in the NHL is that they have allowed the fewest goals in the league (105) thanks in large part to goalie Braden Holtby.
Holtby has typically been able to keep the Bruins to two or fewer goals, which is part of why the Capitals are 6-1 at home against Boston over the last five seasons.
The Capitals will likely have to be productive at even strength, since the Bruins penalty kill is ranked second in the league.
If Rask gets the nod for the Bruins on Wednesday he will be making the second of back-to-back starts. Holtby will be more rested, since backup goalie Philipp Grubauer handled the game against the Islanders on Tuesday night.
The total has gone over in seven of the Bruins’ last 10 road games. The total has gone over in seven of the Bruins’ last 10 road games against Metropolitan Division teams, with two pushes. The total has gone over in seven of the Capitals’ last 10 games, with one push.