Philadelphia vs Washington: the Capitals to win the away match comfortably

Philadelphia has been unable to beat Washington on home ice for five head-to-head encounters in a row. Will Mike Yeo's team be able to break that streak now? Our prediction: the Capitals will be closer to success again!

Philadelphia is failing another season. The last time the Flyers made a decent impression was in the opening game of the last regular season, when they got off to a great start, but then stalled and blew past the playoffs. Now they began to show poor results right away and the change of their head coach didn't lead to any progress. In their last 21 games, the Flyers could only score two wins, and those were over Los Angeles and Winnipeg, who are located in the West. The Pennsylvanians are on a six-game losing streak, which has already dropped them to 14th place in the Eastern Conference standings, losing their realistic chance of making the playoffs.

Washington is another team that has yet to unleash their full potential in the current regular season. We are all used to the fact that the Capitals are in the top group of the league, but this season they have turned into a middling. Their main problems are unstable goaltending and constant injuries to key players. Nevertheless, lately Peter Laviolette's team has stabilized the situation a little, winning five games and losing four times in nine previous matches. All this allows Washington to sit seventh in the Eastern Conference standings at the moment, but it will be difficult to solve big problems in the cup battles with such a game.

During the regular NHL championships, the teams have played 233 face-offs. The Flyers have had 120 wins, while the Capitals have been stronger in 94 games, and other 19 games ended in a draw. The goal difference is also on the side of the Flyers, 792-711. In the current season, the rivals have met twice: first, Philadelphia celebrated the victory (2-1), and then hockey players of Washington were stronger (5-3).

Philadelphia and Washington are having a weak regular season. The only difference is that the Flyers look awful all season, and they have already lost a real chance to make the playoffs, and the Capitals still alternate failures with good streaks, that's why they go eightth in the East. Peter Laviolette's players are the clear favorites in the upcoming battle, as they have beaten the Flyers in the last five consecutive encounters, and eaach victory was in regulation time. Thus, we suggest betting on Washington's victory at odds of about 1.86.

The rivalry between Philadelphia and Washington has been very productive of late. In their previous 12 head-to-head encounters, the opponents combined to score 84 goals (7.00 average per game), which is a respectable number for such a long stretch. Now we may expect a goal-rich matchup, as the Capitals have scored 321 goals (6.06 average per game) in 53 games this season and the Flyers have managed 309 goals (6.06 average per game) in 51 meetings. On this basis, the optimal variant for the prediction seems to be Total Over (6) at odds close to 1.90.

Dmitry Orlov is an experienced defenseman who is becoming more and more confident on the offensive end every year. The Russian has already amassed 24 points (7 goals + 17 assists) in 49 games during the current regular season, and he has only nine more points to his credit, with dozens more to come. Moreover, the Capitals' other leaders are currently struggling, so the 30-year-old defenseman will need to step up his game on offense. You can bet on his Total Over (0.5) at odds of about 6.00.