NHL Hockey Betting: Washington Capitals at Ottawa Senators
The Washington Capitals are back where they were this time last season–atop the National Hockey League points standings. The Caps have 70 points putting them 2 points ahead of their Metropolitan Division rivals the Columbus Blue Jackets, 7 points ahead of the Atlantic Division leading Montreal Canadiens and 5 points ahead of the Minnesota Wild and Chicago Blackhawks who share the best record in the Western Conference. The Ottawa Senators are just trying to run down the Montreal Canadiens atop the Atlantic Division–they trail them by 8 points. The Capitals are 12-0-2 in their last 14 games and enter this contest having won three straight. Ottawa’s form isn’t quite that impressive but they have taken points in 7 of 10 games and are 13-7-5 at home.
The scary thing about Washington is that the’ve been able to sustain their momentum during long winning streaks. After an unbeaten streak of 3 or more they’re 11-4 +5.6 units this year. They’re 13-7 against opponents with winning records but to their credit the Senators are basically just as good with a 13-8 +9 unit mark against opponents with winning records. Ottawa catches something of a break in that they’ll face Washington’s backup goalie Philipp Grubauer tonight. The problem is that he’s one of the best backups in hockey so it isn’t really much of a break after all. Grubauer is 9-1-2 on the season with a 2.05 goals against average and a 0.925 save percentage. Mike Condon hasn’t been ‘confirmed’ for the Senators tonight though it’s hard to imagine that the Caps would throw Chris Driedger into the deep end against Washington for his first start of the year. The Senators just don’t have a lot of options in net at this point with both Andrew Hammond (knee) and Craig Anderson (personal) listed as out ‘indefinitely’.
The Capitals are just a steamroller right now and they’ve already beaten Ottawa twice this season winning 1/1/17 at home 2-1 and on 1/7/17 in Ottawa by a final score of 1-0. Defenseman Mark Borowiecki is listed as ‘questionable’ here with the flu and typically when one player is on the injury list with an illness there are several others playing sick. Capitals are 7-1 in their last 8 games against Ottawa including 3-1 on the Senators’ home ice.
BET WASHINGTON CAPITALS -140 OVER OTTAWA SENATORS
