The Boston Bruins (5-1-1) are visiting the Washington Capitals (5-0-3) for a two-game set beginning Saturday with a 7 p.m. ET puck drop at Capital One Arena. Below, we analyze the Bruins-Capitals NHL odds and lines, with picks and predictions.
Bruins at Capitals: Odds, spread and lines
Odds via BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated at 10:55 a.m. ET.
- Money line: Bruins -150 (bet $150 to win $100) | Capitals +125 (bet $100 to win $125)
- Against the spread/ATS: Bruins -1.5 (+180) | Capitals +1.5 (-225)
- Over/Under: 5.5 (O: -120 | U: +100)
Bruins at Capitals: Projected starting goalies
Tuukka Rask (3-1-0, .905 SV%, 2.13 GAA) vs. Vitek Vanecek (4-0-2, .915 SV%, 2.75 GAA)
Rask has faced a total of just 95 shots through four starts, resulting in his strong goals against average but unimpressive save percentage. He faced a season-high 30 shots against the Pittsburgh Penguins Tuesday and made 28 stops for his second-straight win.
Vanecek remains the interim starter in Washington with Ilya Samsonov still in the league’s COVID-19 protocols. The 25-year-old rookie has faced at least 30 shots in all but one of his six starts, and he has gotten the Capitals at least a point in each one.
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Bruins at Capitals: Odds, lines, predictions and picks
Prediction
Bruins 4, Capitals 2
Money line (ML)
The BRUINS (-150) are the play with RW David Pastrnak (hip) expected to return to the lineup; he’ll boost a Bruins offense with just 12 even-strength goals through seven games. Meanwhile, the Capitals LW Alex Ovechkin and D Dmitry Orlov will return from COVID protocols, but C Evgeny Kuznetsov and are Samsonov out. C Lars Eller (upper body) and D Justin Schultz (face) are also questionable.
The Bruins, minus Pastrnak, have been dominating puck possession with a Corsi For rating of 54.10% at 5-on-5 ranking fourth in the NHL. Boston is also recording 53.81% of scoring chances at full strength. Washington is sub-50% and in the bottom half of the league in both categories.
Finally, the veteran Rask gets the edge over Vanecek. The rookie has been impressive in helping Washington stay in the win column with Samsonov on the sidelines, but he’ll be outmatched Saturday.
Against the spread (ATS)
Take the BRUINS -1.5 (+180) for added value with a $10 bet fetching a profit of $17 if Boston wins by at least 2 goals. The Caps haven’t lost in regulation, but Pastrnak’s return adds too much firepower to a Bruins attack already doing all the right things in terms of generating pressure and controlling the pace of play.
Over/Under (O/U)
Lean to the OVER 5.5 (-120) in expectation of Pastrnak getting on the board right away and Vanecek finally showing some cracks in one of his toughest tests thus far.
Rask hasn’t been quite as sharp as usual, and he’s likely to face a higher shot count against a Capitals team with 3 or more goals in all but one game.
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