Washington’s Alex Ovechkin was the first overall pick in the 2004 draft. Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby was the top pick a year later. Both are future Hall of Famers and have had one of the best individual rivalries in NHL history. They square off Friday night with the Pens as short NHL betting favorites.
Bryan Rust scored two goals and registered an assist. It was Rust’s first three-point showing of the 2017-18 campaign. He’s up to six goals and 22 points in 41 contests and he has four points in three games since returning from an upper-body injury that cost him nearly a month.
Crosby had an assist to extend his point streak to 10 games. That gives him 17 goals and 56 points in 52 contests. He also remains just one goal away from the 400th of his career. Phil Kessel also had an assist. He has 21 goals and 59 points in 52 contests this season. That’s good for third place in the NHL’s scoring race behind just Nathan MacKinnon and Nikita Kucherov.
The Pens will be without winger Conor Sheary as he’s week-to-week with his lower-body injury. He has 12 goals and 19 points in 52 contests.
How to Bet Capitals at Penguins NHL Betting Pick & Prediction
When: Friday, 7 PM ET Where: PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh TV: NHL Center Ice, TSN, CSNB, AT&TSN Radio: 106.7 The Fan (Washington) / 105.9 The X (Pittsburgh) Opening NHL Betting Lines: Penguins -146, Capitals +132 (5.5)The #Caps start the February portion of their slate in Pittsburgh, where they’ll face the red-hot Penguins#CapsPens #ALLCAPS https://t.co/QRtaCclMLR
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) February 2, 2018
Season Series
Third of four regular-season meetings, although I have a feeling these two meet in the playoffs for a third straight year – the Pens have eliminated the Caps from the East semifinals the past two years. On Oct. 11 in D.C., Pittsburgh won 3-2. Patric Hornqvist scored a power-play goal and assisted on another. Hornqvist was on the ice for all three Pens power-play goals. Hornqvist assisted on a goal by Kris Letang and was also right there for Conor Sheary’s goal as Pittsburgh went 3 for 6 on the power play. Ovechkin’s goal with 7:09 in the third period made things interesting, but Washington had six minor penalties and that was too much to overcome. Pittsburgh outshot Washington 36-22 as Matt Murray made 20 saves for the victory while Braden Holtby had 33. On Nov. 10, also in D.C., the Caps won 4-1. Holtby became the second-fastest goaltender in NHL history behind Ken Dryden to reach 200 victories as the Capitals struck twice on the power play. John Carlson and T.J. Oshie scored the power-play goals, and Holtby stopped 27 of the 28 shots he faced to pick up victory No. 200 in his 319th game. Phil Kessel had the only Pittsburgh goal.Latest NHL Betting Trends
- Washington is 4-1 ATS in the last 5 games on the road
- Washington is 8-4 SU in the last 12 games
- The total went OVER in 4 of Washington’s last 6 games
- Pittsburgh is 5-0 ATS in the last 5 games
- Pittsburgh is 4-1 SU in the last 5 games
- The total went OVER in 4 of Pittsburgh’s last 6 games at home
Why Bet on Washington’s NHL Betting Odds?
The Capitals (30-15-5) are atop the Metropolitan Division and on a two-game winning streak. The Caps came out of the All-Star break with a 5-3 home win over the Flyers on Tuesday – Philly had been 2-0 in the series this season. Chandler Stephenson scored a pair of goals. His first one cut the Flyers’ lead to 2-1 early in the second period before tying the game at two less than one minute later. His two goals were the start of Washington’s five unanswered tallies in the game. Stephenson finished the night with a plus-1 rating and two shots on goal in 10:39 of ice time. The Caps forward now has four goals and 12 points in 37 games this season. He hadn’t found the back of the net since Nov. 6. Lars Eller and John Carlson each had two assists. Eller has only been held off the scoresheet once in his last four games. He’s up to 10 goals and 25 points in 49 games this season. Carlson has now reached the 40-point milestone for the second time in his career. The Caps got a pair of power-play goals in Wednesday’s win, marking the fourth straight game in which the Caps scored with the extra man. It’s the first time since March 25-31, 2017 that Washington scored a power-play goal in four straight games. Washington has had multiple power-play goals in nine of its first 50 games this season; the Caps had 11 such games in 2016-17. Holtby allowed three goals on 30 shots. He has now gone four games without a regulation loss (2-0-2). He has a 26-9-2 record with a 2.67 goals-against-average and a .916 save percentage this season.Why Bet on Pittsburgh’s NHL Betting Odds?
The Penguins (28-21-3) won their third in a row Tuesday, coming out of the break with a 5-2 victory over San Jose. Evgeni Malkin scored a hat trick. Malkin did all of his damage in the last 20:05 of the game, as he tied the game at two with five seconds remaining in the second period before scoring the go-ahead goal and an empty-netter in the third frame. He finished the game with four shots on goal and a plus-3 rating in 19:40 of ice time. The Pens forward has now put together back-to-back three-point efforts. He has 26 goals and 55 points in 48 games this season.
Bryan Rust scored two goals and registered an assist. It was Rust’s first three-point showing of the 2017-18 campaign. He’s up to six goals and 22 points in 41 contests and he has four points in three games since returning from an upper-body injury that cost him nearly a month.
Crosby had an assist to extend his point streak to 10 games. That gives him 17 goals and 56 points in 52 contests. He also remains just one goal away from the 400th of his career. Phil Kessel also had an assist. He has 21 goals and 59 points in 52 contests this season. That’s good for third place in the NHL’s scoring race behind just Nathan MacKinnon and Nikita Kucherov.
The Pens will be without winger Conor Sheary as he’s week-to-week with his lower-body injury. He has 12 goals and 19 points in 52 contests.
