The Philadelphia Flyers and the Washington Capitals are currently struggling to stay above the 50% mark in points collected, so the gap of at least seven points between them already looks difficult to make up. They now virtually need to win almost every game, and we'll see who needs it more.
Philadelphia Flyers
After the season resumed, the hosts mostly faced teams from their own conference, including the visitors on 25 February. The goaltenders were the main figures in that game in Washington, each stopping at least 92.9% of shots: Dan Vladar posted a 92.9% save percentage, while Logan Thompson was up at 95.8%, which allowed them to win 3:1. The hosts are capable of taking points off any favourite, but they can also lose to outsiders, as they did against the New York Rangers on Monday (2:6).
Washington Capitals
Logan Thompson has to be singled out, because the team are largely relying on him. Over their last 10 games, they have been close to the league-average scoring mark of 3.17 goals (3.2), but if you remove the emphatic 7:3 win over the Calgary Flames earlier this week, that drops to only 2.8. At the trade deadline the team also parted ways with John Carlson. His age (36) and expiring contract played a role, but this season he was producing at his best rate over the last four campaigns, with 0.84 points per game.
Philadelphia Flyers vs Washington Capitals Prediction
The meeting between them in Philadelphia in early February also did not produce many goals (4:2). If Dan Vladar is once again the goaltender facing Logan Thompson, we are likely to see another game with plenty of saves and a declining number of goals overall – leaning towards the total under 6 goals.
