The Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals have thrilled fans with one of the NHL's best rivalries over the last decade and renew hostilities on Tuesday night at Capital One Arena.
Oddsmakers are expecting another tight battle between these Eastern Conference foes with this game currently a pick'em.
Here are our best Penguins vs. Capitals picks and predictions for Tuesday, February 23, with the puck dropping at 7 p.m. ET, as part of a six-game betting night in the NHL.
Pittsburgh Penguins at Washington Capitals betting preview
Injuries
Penguins: Brice Dumoulin D (Out), Jared McCann LW (Out), Evan Rodrigues LW (Out), Juuso Riikola D (Out).
Capitals: Michal Kempny D (Out).
Find our latest NHL injury reports.
Betting trend to know
The Penguins are 2-8 in their last 10 road games. Find more NHL betting trends for Penguins vs. Capitals.
NHL sharp money and line movement report
By Patrick EversonThe Capitals opened as -118 favorites at FanDuel and initially ticked up to -122, but by lunch hour today, the Penguins were modest -110 favorites, with the Caps -106. With the moneyline still near pick 'em as of 2 p.m. ET, it's no surprise this game is seeing two-way action, with Washington taking 54 percent of early bets and Pittsburgh seeing 57 percent of early money. The total hasn't budged off 6.5 flat, although the Under is grabbing 62 percent of tickets and money.
Check out the full line movement for this gameMoneyline pick
This will be the fifth time these teams have faced off this year. The Caps won 3-1 in their most recent meeting last Tuesday, giving them their first victory over Pittsburgh this season (although they came away with points in the first two meetings with those games going into overtime).
The Capitals are fresh off a 4-3 win against the Devils and are 3-1 over their last four games. They currently sit in second place in the East Division with a 9-5-3 record but are just two points ahead of fifth-place Pittsburgh, with one game in hand.
The Penguins are coming off back-to-back wins over the Islanders. Pens goalie Tristan Jarry played very well in those games, turning aside 64 of 67 shots. That said, the Islanders are one of the worst offensive teams in the league and Jarry still has a mediocre GAA of 3.30 with a save percentage of .892 across 11 games.
Jarry and the Pens will have a much tougher time tonight against a Capitals team that averages 3.35 goals per game and leads the league with a power-play percentage of 33.3 percent.
While Pittsburgh has plenty of star power with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang, they have struggled on the power play, converting on just 14.9 percent of opportunities with the man advantage.
They've also been brutal on the penalty kill, ranking 25th in the league with a PK percentage of 74. Look for special teams to be the deciding factor in what should be a close game. Back the Caps at home.
PREDICTION: Washington (-110)
Over/Under pick
We mentioned Jarry's struggles and Pittsburgh ranks 25th in the NHL in goals allowed per game with 3.31. That doesn't all fall on Jarry, however, with Pittsburgh ranking just 27th in the league in high-danger chances allowed per 60 minutes.
While Alexander Ovechkin and his Capitals teammates should be able to generate plenty of scoring opportunities against Pittsburgh, they'll need to capitalize on them if they want to make up for their own shaky goaltending.
The Caps are allowing 3.41 goals per game and while rookie netminder Vitek Vanecek has looked a bit better recently, he's still been inconsistent. Washington could turn to Ilya Samsonov in this contest but he's still getting back into game shape following a bout with COVID-19, and he allowed seven goals on 53 shots in his only two starts this season.
The Capitals have been one of the league's best Over bets at home since last season, going 37-14 O/U in their previous 51 home games.
While these teams combined for just four goals when they met up last week, they had cashed the Over in seven consecutive meetings prior to that. Expect them to get back to their high-scoring ways tonight and take the Over.
PREDICTION: Over 6.5 (+100)
Penguins vs Capitals betting card
- Moneyline Washington (-110)
- Over 6.5 (+100)
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