NHL Preview: Carolina Hurricanes at Washington Capitals

Added on Mar 11, 2011 by Jack Thurman in

NHL

Big card of NHL betting action for Friday and in this preview we’ll look at an Eastern Conference matchup between the Washington Capitals and Carolina Hurricanes at the Verizon Center in Washington, DC. Caps playing excellent hockey at the moment having won 6 straight and 8 of 10 and are just 4 points behind East leading Philadelphia. The Hurricanes are currently in 9th place, 2 points out of the final playoff spot. Carolina treading water at the moment with a 4-4-2 record in their last 10 games.

Carolina Hurricanes at Washington Capitals
March 11, 2011 4:05 PM Pacific

The Washington Capitals are a drastically different team from last year’s high scoring squad. Last year’s Caps led the NHL in scoring offense, but often struggled on the defensive end. This year they’ve done a complete 180–they rank among the best defensive teams in the NHL (#4 in scoring defense) but are a lower tier offensive team ranking #23 in scoring offensive putting up 2.65 goals per game. Earlier in the season they struggled with the transition from offensive to defensively oriented play, but now they’re becoming more and more comfortable in their new schemes.

They’ve also become the biggest moneymaker in the NHL this season. More specifically, playing the Capitals Under the total has been a 75% winning play in 2010-2011 and shows no sign of stopping. There are also situational components to this matchup that make the Under an even stronger play. Washington has gone Over only 16 times in 67 games this year (48 Under, 2 push. In their last 23 games they’ve played 19 Under, 3 Over and 1 push. At home with a total of 5.5 they’ve gone Under in 12 of 14. The Caps may have a stronger Under performance against opponents with losing records than in any situational spot this season. Against sub .500 opponents they’ve gone Under in 21 of 30 (2 push, 7 Over). In the second half of the season they’re Under in 9 of 10 games against opponents with losing records (the other result was a ‘push’) This is a divisional matchup for Washington and they’ve only gone Over in 5 of 20 Southeast Division games this year (14 Under, 1 push). Head to head, Washington and Carolina have gone Under in 5 straight meetings including all four this season.

Bet Washington/Carolina Under 5′ -120