We get a true rivalry game on Wednesday night as the Pittsburgh Penguins visit the Washington Capitals on NBCSN. Far too often the Wednesday night game is not even a rivalry at all but that is not the case this time around as the Penguins and Capitals despise each other. It doesn’t hurt that both teams are among the best in the NHL and that they have two superstars in Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin that can’t stand one another.
At 7:30 p.m. ET, tune into NBCSN for live television coverage of this NHL game on Wednesday, November 16, 2016, at the Verizon Center.
We'll have NHL odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the NHL Wednesday schedule.
Odds Analysis
The Penguins have a major edge in scheduling for this matchup as Pittsburgh has not played since Saturday night. Pittsburgh is beginning a three-game road trip and they have been decent on the road this season going 3-2-1.
The Capitals had to play in Columbus on Tuesday night so they will be playing with no rest on Wednesday night. Bettors shouldn’t overreact to the back-to-back situation as the Capitals have won 13 of their last 20 games playing with no rest.
Special Teams
The Penguins feature one of the top power plays in the league as they are 3rd in the league at 25.5%. The Penguins are scoring 3.1 goals per game and the power play is a big reason why they have been so successful. The Penguins have not been as good on the penalty kill as they are 16th in the league at 82.1%.
The Capitals have not been nearly as good on the power play as in previous seasons as they are just 24th in the league at 12.5%. They haven’t been that great on penalty killing either as they are 20th at 80.5%. In the past four years the Capitals have had a very good power play at 26.8%, 23.4%, 25.3% and 21.9%. The Capitals have never finished lower than 5th in the league in power play percentage.
“Our power play is still getting lots of chances, but we just haven’t found the back of net yet,” Capitals coach Barry Trotz said. “We are 8-3-1, and for the most part, our special teams weren’t going early. I don’t think we are too far off where we were last year at this time.” Ovechkin has just two power play goals this season.
Goalie Report
The Penguins once again have a goaltender controversy as Matt Murray has been fantastic since coming back from injury as he has a 1.25 goals against average and the Penguins are 4-0 in his starts. The team is 6-5 in the starts by Marc-Andre Fleury and his goals against average is just 3.06. Murray was a big reason the Penguins won the Stanley Cup last season and he is proving that last year was no fluke. “It’s a nice challenge to have, as a coaching staff, when you have a difficult decision like that,” head coach Mike Sullivan said about the goaltenders.
The Capitals have a clear starter in Braden Holtby who is 7-4 this season with a 2.16 goals against average. They also have a capable backup in Phillipp Grubauer who is 2-1 on the season with a 2.01 goals against average. The interesting part about this game on Wednesday is that there is a chance it could be Grubauer in goal unless the Capitals decide to play Holtby on back-to-back nights. “It’s a tough position for him. Typically, he gets the back end of back-to-backs, and we’ve got to find ways to get wins there.” forward T.J. Oshie said.
Free NHL Picks
This is a great rivalry matchup that has been dominated by Pittsburgh lately as the Penguins have won 7 of the last 10 meetings. I will take Pittsburgh on the road in this one.
NHL Odds: Penguins 4, Capitals 2
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