The late game on Friday’s five-game NHL schedule features the Washington Capitals concluding their California Swing with their lone visit of the season to the Anaheim Ducks. The red-hot Caps opened as NHL betting favorites at Mybookie.
How to Bet Capitals vs Ducks NHL Spread & Game Info
- When: Friday, 10 PM ET
- Where: Honda Center
- TV: NHL Center Ice, RSNE
- NHL Spread: Washington Capitals -1.5 (Total 6 goals)
Capitals vs Ducks Last Meeting
This concludes the season series as Washington beat Anaheim 5-2 in D.C. on Nov. 18. Perhaps that game was most remembered because the Caps’ Garnet Hathaway spit on a Ducks player during a fight and was ejected and eventually suspended. Washington’s Brendan Leipsic incited the brawl by bulldozing Anaheim’s Derek Grant just before Chandler Stephenson scored to make it 3-0 Capitals with 33.4 seconds remaining in the second.Almost all 10 skaters on the ice got involved. Alex Ovechkin, Richard Panik, Jakub Vrana and Tom Wilson also scored for the Caps. Braden Holtby made 32 saves for Washington. John Gibson stopped 26 of 30 shots for the Ducks.
Why Bet on Washington?
The Caps look like the NHL’s best team at 21-4-5 and are on a five-game winning streak, the past three on the road. They won 5-2 in San Jose on Tuesday and then 24 hours later completed the sweep of the Los Angeles teams with a 3-1 victory at the Kings.Defenseman John Carlson had two goals and now has 11 goals and 30 assists for 41 points through 30 games. He has tied Hall of Famers Denis Potvin and Al MacInnis for second-most points to start a season in 30 games. Only Bobby Orr had more, with a record-56 points in 1974-75 highlighting his five seasons with at least 42 points through 30 games. Carlson is already just four goals shy of his career high of 15. He recently went through a three-game pointless streak, but he has bounced back with three goals and a trio of assists in his most recent three contests
Winger T.J. Oshie is on a four-game point streak. Oshie registered an assist in the win over the Kings and is up to 11 goals and 22 points in 30 contests this season. Center Nicklas Backstrom didn’t play Wednesday against the Kings as he remains day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
Backup Ilya Samsonov got the win vs. the Kings but it should be No. 1 Braden Holtby back in this one. Holtby allowed two goals on 25 shots in Tuesday’s 5-2 against the Sharks. Holtby improved to 14-2-4 with a 2.82 goals-against average and .909 save percentage across his 21 outings this season. He has lost just once in regulation across the past 16 outings.
Team Stats
Offense- Goals: 3.73
- Shots: 31.13
- PP/PK Percentage: 23.08
Defense
- Goals: 2.87
- Shots: 31.03
- PP/PK Percentage: 16.50
Why Bet on Anaheim?
The Ducks are back to .500 at 12-12-4 following Monday’s 4-2 home win over the Kings. Carter Rowney picked up the game-winning goal and an assist. Rowney assisted on the first goal of the game, scored by Derek Grant, just over five minutes into the match. Just under seven minutes into the second, Rowney scored off of a feed from Hampus Lindholm to pick up his fifth goal of the season. Rowney had gone seven games in a row without a point.Grant scored a pair of goals in Monday’s win. Grant is surprisingly up to eight goals in 28 games this season, which puts him on pace to score by far a career-high 23. The 29-year-old has accumulated 11 points in 28 contests.
Lindholm collected three assists. He picked up the primary assists on goals by Jakob Silfverberg (power play) and Rowney. He also helped set up Grant’s second goal of the game in the third period. Lindholm has no goals and 12 assists in 20 games this season.
Top Players
Ryan Miller made 34 saves in the win, finishing the night with .944 save percentage. Miller put on a solid performance and helped the Ducks pick up a win after two losses. This was a much-needed performance for Miller, as in his last appearance he gave up six goals against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Likely to be Miller again in this one as No. 1 John Gibson is dealing with an illness. Miller is 4-1-2 with a 2.99 goals-against average and a .906 save percentage.Defenseman Josh Manson (knee) took part in practice this week. If he does play on Friday, it will be his first game since Oct. 24. Mason had three points, all assists, in 11 games before he was injured while attempting to check Jason Dickinson of the Stars. The Ducks’ original estimate was that Manson would be sidelined for between five and 10 weeks.
Team Stats
Offense- Goals: 2.68
- Shots: 28.79
- PP/PK Percentage: 11.11
Defense
- Goals: 3.00
- Shots: 31.75
- PP/PK Percentage: 22.83
Capitals vs Ducks NHL Betting Trends
- Over is 5-2 in the last 7 meetings
- Home team is 6-1 in the last 7 meetings
- Capitals are 8-1 SU in their last 9 games on the road
- The total has gone OVER in 9 of Washington’s last 12 games against an opponent in the West conference
- Ducks are 2-6 SU in their last 8 games at home
- The total has gone OVER in 5 of Anaheim’s last 7 games this season
