The Boston Bruins and Washington Capitals play their final game of the Eastern Conference round-robin tournament Sunday with puck drop set for noon ET at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. The two will be playing for the third and fourth seeds entering Round 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs after each lost their first two games of the NHL restart. Below, we look at the Bruins-Capitals betting odds and lines and make our NHL picks and best bets.
Bruins vs. Capitals: Projected starting goalies
Tuukka Rask vs. Braden Holtby
Rask stopped 32 of 35 shots against the Tampa Bay Lightning in his first game of the round robin. The 33-year-old has played 90 career playoff games with a .927 save percentage and 2.20 goals against average.
Holtby has started both games of the round robin but has allowed five goals on a modest 49 shots in the back-to-back losses, though one of those was in a shootout. He played the Lightning twice in the regular season and picked up two wins with a total of four goals against.
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Bruins vs. Capitals: Odds, picks and betting tips
Odds courtesy of BetMGM; access them at USA TODAY Sports for a full list. Odds last updated Saturday at 10 a.m. ET.
Prediction
Capitals 3, Bruins 1
Moneyline (ML)
The Bruins (-125) have looked wholly unimpressive since the puck was first dropped in Toronto and Edmonton last Saturday. C Patrice Bergeron is expected to return to the lineup Sunday, but this may be one of the few times Boston’s top line is outmatched.
The CAPITALS (+105) are a nice bargain at plus-money. They’ve played the closer games thus far. D John Carlson and C Nicklas Backstrom should also return to the lineup with the third seed up for grabs.
The extra edge to remember is that the Bruins went 0-7 in shootouts in the regular season while the Caps went 4-3. These round-robin games feature just a five-minute overtime period before a shootout, unlike the endless overtimes in the qualification series games.
New to sports betting? A $10 bet on the Capitals to win in regulation, overtime or a shootout returns a profit of $10.50.
Puck Line/Against the Spread (ATS)
There’s still enough profit to be made while backing the CAPITALS +1 (-167) to lose by no more than one goal. Should they lose by exactly one, any bet on the spread would be refunded in full. The bet cashes if they win outright and loses only if Washington loses by 2 or more goals.
The alternate line of CAPITALS -1.5 (+280) carries a higher profit margin as a smaller, secondary play. It’s a little riskier than is necessary in a pivotal game for playoff seeding.
Over/Under (O/U)
Take the UNDER 5.5 (-106) in another battle of former Vezina Trophy winners and past cup champions.
Esten’s NHL betting record: 18-21
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