Washington Capitals vs New Jersey Devils Prediction: Expect the most persistent and intriguing match

Prediction for the NHL match which will take place on January 4. Who will turn out to be stronger? Check the team conditions! Several betting options are available.

Washington continues a desperate struggle to get into the playoffs. Following the results of the last regular season, the Capitals failed to make it to the Cup Battles for the first time in a long time, and now they are trying to work on their mistakes to compete for the trophy. In the current season, they are expected to lack stability; after all, most of the key players have already overcome the ideal hockey age, and therefore, it is problematic to give the maximum in each meeting. At the end of December, they won three in a row, then lost four times, and in the first game of 2024, they beat Pittsburgh 4:3 to remain in eighth place in the Eastern Conference standings.

New Jersey is disappointing. Lindy Ruff has a young, ambitious, and skillful team, which a year ago finally managed to make the playoffs after gaining cup experience and, therefore, should have been expected to progress further. The Devils are still outside the cup eight. In the current season, they have already had a losing streak. However, at the end of 2023, they still managed to improve by beating Detroit 3:2, Columbus 4:3, and Ottawa 6:2. But in their debut game in January, they failed to beat Boston 2:5, leaving them only tenth in the Eastern Conference standings.

Washington and New Jersey are located not far from each other in the Eastern Conference standings; therefore, we expect the most persistent and intriguing confrontation. A little closer to success in it should be the Capitals, which won both previous personal meetings in the current regular season - 6:4 and 4:2. In addition, they at home walls act extremely unyielding, and therefore, in the last 11 battles on the ice of the Capital One Arena they lost only once in regulation time.

The confrontation between Washington and New Jersey in recent years is spectacular and rich in goals. In the previous eight head-to-head meetings, the rivals scored 59 pucks (7.38 per game on average). The Metropolitans have been particularly good offensively lately, sending 14 pucks (4.67 per game average) into the Devils' net in the three previous meetings.