PREMIUM
Rogers' 10* Game 1 TOP TICKET >> 100% PERFECT w/ Totals in Rd 2!
(NHL) Washington vs. Tampa Bay,
Total: 6.00 | -105.00 Over
Result: Push
Total: 6.00 | -105.00 Over
Result: Push
The set-up: The Washington Capitals are in their first conference final in 20 years, while the Tampa Bay Lightning are in for the third time in four years. Tampa Bay has dispatched New Jersey and Boston in five games each, while Washington has had a more difficult path to this point, rallying from an 0-2 deficit to beat Columbus, then again needing six games to eliminate the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins. The Lightning have 18 players that have a combined 273 conference final games of experience, while the Capitals total is 28 conference final games of experience. Will experience give Tampa Bay an (the?) edge or will Washington's motivation of waiting so long to get to this point in the postseason be a (the?) determining factor?
Washington: The Capitals edged the Penguins at Pittsburgh in Game 6 without standout center Nicklas Backstrom and he is day-to-day with an upper-body injury. He who owns 13 points in the playoffs and has been skating on his own while forward Andre Burakovsky (upper-body injury) practiced Thursday and is also considered day-to-day after missing the last 10 games. Captain Alex Ovechkin makes his first appearance in the conference final after recording a team-high eight goals in 12 playoff contests, and his club-best 15 points are one better than linemate Evgeny Kuznetsov - who scored the overtime winner in Game 6 at Pittsburgh. John Carlson boasts 11 points in the playoffs and fellow defenseman Brooks Orpik, who has appeared in 137 postseason games, leads the team with a plus-9 rating.
Tampa Bay: The No. 1 line of Brayden Point, Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat, have limited their opponents' top threesome at even strength in the first two series and will likely get another test with the Tom Wilson-Kuznetsov-Ovechkin line. Right wing Nikita Kucherov leads the team with six goals and 12 points in the playoffs while linemate Steven Stamkos scored two of his three goals in the last three games. Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy boasts a 2.20 goals-against average and .927 save percentage in the postseason. However, he was 0-3-0 versus the Capitals before winning two of three while posting a .930 SP against them in 2017-18.
The pick: "If you're going to have success against really good teams, Pitt, Tampa, anybody going forward, you've got to be hard, you've got to be detailed, you've got to be compact, you've got to make good decisions, you've got to have an extremely high work ethic and high commitment," Capitals head coach Barry Trotz said. Trotz decided to bench the team's No. 1 goalie at the start of the Columbus series but after falling behind 0-2, returned to Braden Holtby, who owns a 2.04 GAA in the playoffs and is 9-3-2 with a .910 SP in 16 career games against the Lightning. Tampa Bay's Andrei Vasilevskiy has been sharp, allowing 2.20 GAA with a .927 SP plus tied for the NHL lead in shutouts with eight. Tampa Bay made headlines in the regular season with its high-scoring offense but the Lightning separated themselves from Boston with physical play, something that carried over from the opening series with New Jersey. Make the Under a 10* play.
Washington: The Capitals edged the Penguins at Pittsburgh in Game 6 without standout center Nicklas Backstrom and he is day-to-day with an upper-body injury. He who owns 13 points in the playoffs and has been skating on his own while forward Andre Burakovsky (upper-body injury) practiced Thursday and is also considered day-to-day after missing the last 10 games. Captain Alex Ovechkin makes his first appearance in the conference final after recording a team-high eight goals in 12 playoff contests, and his club-best 15 points are one better than linemate Evgeny Kuznetsov - who scored the overtime winner in Game 6 at Pittsburgh. John Carlson boasts 11 points in the playoffs and fellow defenseman Brooks Orpik, who has appeared in 137 postseason games, leads the team with a plus-9 rating.
Tampa Bay: The No. 1 line of Brayden Point, Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat, have limited their opponents' top threesome at even strength in the first two series and will likely get another test with the Tom Wilson-Kuznetsov-Ovechkin line. Right wing Nikita Kucherov leads the team with six goals and 12 points in the playoffs while linemate Steven Stamkos scored two of his three goals in the last three games. Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy boasts a 2.20 goals-against average and .927 save percentage in the postseason. However, he was 0-3-0 versus the Capitals before winning two of three while posting a .930 SP against them in 2017-18.
The pick: "If you're going to have success against really good teams, Pitt, Tampa, anybody going forward, you've got to be hard, you've got to be detailed, you've got to be compact, you've got to make good decisions, you've got to have an extremely high work ethic and high commitment," Capitals head coach Barry Trotz said. Trotz decided to bench the team's No. 1 goalie at the start of the Columbus series but after falling behind 0-2, returned to Braden Holtby, who owns a 2.04 GAA in the playoffs and is 9-3-2 with a .910 SP in 16 career games against the Lightning. Tampa Bay's Andrei Vasilevskiy has been sharp, allowing 2.20 GAA with a .927 SP plus tied for the NHL lead in shutouts with eight. Tampa Bay made headlines in the regular season with its high-scoring offense but the Lightning separated themselves from Boston with physical play, something that carried over from the opening series with New Jersey. Make the Under a 10* play.
