Adam Williams presents his prediction for the NHL match.
The Washington Capitals will have to climb away from the bottom of the Eastern Conference through a pair of back-to-back games. In the first of these, they host the Edmonton Oilers, who have also not been particularly impressive.
Washington Capitals
At times, the Washington Capitals manage to score only two goals. They have Logan Thompson in goal, who is ahead of all his colleagues at the position both in goals-against average (1.85) and in save percentage (92.5%). Yet in their most recent win over the Los Angeles Kings (2:1) it was not him but Charlie Lindgren who started; against the Kings he saved 30 of 31 shots. For the Capitals the key is simply to rediscover on a consistent basis how to score more than three goals: over their last six games that has happened only once, when they beat the Carolina Hurricanes (4:1).
Edmonton Oilers
Even for the Edmonton Oilers, who have Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, this does not happen often either. Perhaps this is because their road trip in the eastern United States is still ongoing: this will already be the fifth game for the Oilers. They have hit the four-goal mark in two games, but against the Carolina Hurricanes they needed overtime (4:3), and only the meeting with the Columbus Blue Jackets turned into an open contest (4:5).
Washington Capitals vs Edmonton Oilers Prediction
The problem for the Edmonton Oilers is that, unlike the Washington Capitals, they find it very difficult to keep the goals-against column low — their goaltending group is not of the same quality, conceding an average of 3.48 goals per game. Therefore, we will combine the under 6.5 goals bet with the Washington Capitals not to lose.
