NHL Betting Preview: Washington Capitals at Boston Bruins

Added on Oct 21, 2010 by Jack Thurman in

NHL

We previewed the only college football game of the night earlier this week, so we’ll now take a look at a good sized board of NHL betting opportunities for Thursday. In this preview we’ll look at a marquee matchup between the Boston Bruins and Washington Capitals. Both teams have posted winning records in the early going and have high hopes for a deep run in the playoffs next spring.

Washington Capitals at Boston Bruins
October 21, 2010 4:05 PM Pacific

The Washington Capitals are 4-2 in the early going this year but so far most NHL hockey analysts have had trouble figuring them out for one reason–they’re actually playing defense this year. This has left many people confused since they’re not scoring as many goals as they did last year, but they’re not allowing as many either. So depending on whether you’re a ‘glass half empty’ or a ‘glass half full’ kind of person this can either be construed as if the Caps’ offense is sputtering or that they’re becoming a better all around hockey team.

We’re thinking it’s the latter. The old adage that ‘defense wins championships’ may have more validity in hockey than any other sport. You just can’t score your way to a Stanley Cup, and the Caps have figured that out. It’s not like Washington isn’t scoring at all–they’re in a 3 way tie for 8th place in scoring offense with 3.00 goals per game. They’re putting the puck on net, ranking #3 in the league in shots on goal per game. The shocking thing is that they’re 10th in scoring *defense* averaging 2.33 goals against per game.

Historically, the best predictor of NHL totals in my experience has been in-season head to head play. Previous seasons have *some* validity, but obviously the further back you go the less significance matchup results have. These teams played in Washington two nights ago with the Bruins taking a 3-1 decision. With the series shifting to Boston we don’t expect a wide open game tonight. That’s not the way the Bruins play and considering that they’re currently #2 in the league in scoring defense with a 1.75 goals against per game average why would they play into the Caps’ strength? We look for another close checking, low scoring game. Besides, its not like low scoring games between these teams is anything new–7 of the L9 meetings including 3 of the L4 and 18 of the L26 in Boston have gone Under the total. Depending on where you play the game, you’ve got the option of going Under 6 goals or 5′ goals. In situations like this we usually prefer to take the better moneyline price and give up the 1/2 goal.

We’ll also look for the Caps to avenge Tuesday’s defeat–assuming that the teams involved are evenly matched in ‘quick rematch” games of this sort it’s usually a good move to play the team that lost the first game. Washington has done well against the Bruins and specifically in Boston. They’ve won 6 of 9 head to head and took 3 of 4 meetings last season. They won both games at the TD BankNorth Garden last year and have won 3 of the last 4 on Boston’s home ice.

Bet Washington Capitals -105 over Boston Bruins
Bet Washington/Boston Under 5′ -115