The Washington Capitals are favored on Wednesday night, as they host the Philadelphia Flyers on NBCSN. The Flyers come out of the All-Star break in a playoff position, as they are tied with New Jersey for the top Wild Card spot, but there are seven teams in the Metropolitan Division separated by just five points and only four of those teams are going to make the playoffs. The Capitals lead the division with 63 points.
At 8 p.m. ET, tune into NBCSN for live television coverage of this NHL game on Wednesday, January 31, 2018 at Capital One Arena.
We'll have NHL odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the NHL Wednesday schedule.
Odds Analysis
The Flyers are 16-6-1 in their last 23 games and they are now very much a playoff contender. “We had some ups and downs,” said center Sean Couturier to Philly.com, “but I think we grew from those downs. We learned from our mistakes, and lately I think we’re playing some good hockey. We just have to refocus during the break and recharge the battery and get back to where we were.” The Flyers were in almost this exact position a year ago. This year’s team does look better with Couturier playing at a high level and with Claude Giroux and Shayne Gostisbehere back to top form.
If the Flyers are to hang onto a playoff spot they need to improve a rotten penalty kill, that is 28th in the league at just 75.3%. The Flyers will play 27 of their last 33 games against Eastern Conference teams and they are 14-7-4 against Eastern Conference teams this season. The Flyers are 11-12 on the road this season, with 11 games going over, 11 going under, with one push. They are scoring 2.9 goals per game and giving up 2.8 per contest.
The Capitals are 18-8 at home, with 11 games going over and 15 going under. They are scoring 3 goals per game and giving up 2.8 per contest. The Capitals are in first place in the Metropolitan Division and they look like a serious Stanley Cup contender. One of the keys for Washington will be the play of Braden Holtby who is facing more shots this season than a year ago. “Obviously we have a different team,” Holtby said to the Washington Post. “It’s been a challenge mentally just to evaluate games a little different when you’re giving up a lot more chances, shots, that type of thing. More opportunity to make mistakes, I guess. It’s been an adjustment that way, to be critical in the right areas of yourself, but not too down when we’re giving up a goal more a game or whatever.” The Capitals gave up just 27.8 shots per game last season but this year they are giving up 32 per contest this season.
Special Teams
The Flyers have been decent on the power play at almost 21% but as noted earlier, they are struggling on the penalty kill. The Capitals are just average on special teams, as they are 15th on the power play and 18th in penalty killing.
Key Stat
These teams have split their last five meetings, with only two of the last ten meetings going over. The teams have played twice this season with the Flyers winning both games. The Capitals have won six of the last ten at home in this series, with six games going under, just one going over, with three pushes.
Free NHL Picks
As I noted yesterday with the preview on the Blackhawks and Predators, it is always a little dicey making picks coming out of a break. The trends are kind of neutral on the side in this contest but there are big time trends on the total. These teams almost always play low scoring games, especially in Washington. I will go under the total on Wednesday night.
NHL Odds: Capitals 2, Flyers 1
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