NHL Picks - Carolina Hurricanes at Washington Capitals

Carolina Hurricanes at Washington Capitals

This matchup between Southeast Division rivals will no doubt get heated over the next few weeks as they’ll face each other three times in 15 days. Tonight will be the fourth meeting of six between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Washington Capitals, wish the Hurricanes actually winning the last matchup on December 28 th by a 6-3 score. Washington still leads the season series, taking the first two games 3-2 in Carolina on November 30th and a 4-3 overtime win in Washington on December 11 th.

The Capitals will be coming into this matchup in a bad foul mood as they’re fresh off a shootout loss to Dallas on Monday, a game where they badly outplayed the Stars but just ran into a hot goaltender. Not only did they give up a 2-0 lead, but the loss halted their 11 game home winning streak and ruined a pretty solid NHL pick for many people.

An angry Capitals team is not good news for Carolina. More bad news for the Hurricanes is that Alex Ovechkin snapped a goalless drought that had run six-games, his longest of the season. The two tallies moved him back into a tie with Sidney Crosby for the Rocket Richard Trophy race as the NHL’s goal scoring leader with 44 and is still tops in the NHL with 92 points.

Even with their captain’s offensive struggles, the Capitals haven’t skipped a beat. They have been on an absolute tear since the start of January, going 20-2-3 over their last 25 games. They are up by four points on the San Jose Sharks for the league’s best mark and have 13-points on their nearest Eastern Conference rival. The Southeast division has been locked up since Christmas as they currently hold a 31-point edge over the second-place Thrashers.

Here is a history of NHL picks between these two teams over their last few games :

• Hurricanes are 5-0 in their last 5 vs. a team with a winning record.
• Hurricanes are 8-1 in their last 9 overall.
• Hurricanes are 6-1 in their last 7 games as an underdog.
• Over is 4-1 in Capitals last 5 games as a home favorite.
• Over is 4-1-1 in Capitals last 6 Wednesday games.
• Over is 4-1 in Capitals last 5 home games.
• Over is 4-0 in the last 4 meetings in Washington.

Although it sounds strange to say, this is a matchup of two of the league’s hottest teams. The Carolina Hurricanes are 3-1 since the Olympic break and 8-1 over their last nine games. Even though this team was a seller at the trade deadline, this team is playing like they’ve got a shot of catching Boston for the 8 th spot in the Eastern Conference. It will be an emotional night as it will mark the first time Scott Walker and Joe Corvo, both long time Hurricanes, will face their former team. Both guys were traded to the Capitals in separate deals that saw Brian Pothier, Oskar Osala and a pair of draft picks come back in return.

Even with the strong play of the Hurricanes lately, I still can’t justify laying down a bet against the Capitals at home. Giving up the -1 ½ goal puckline will get you the Capitals at even money, and that’s what I’ll be laying my money down on tonight.

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