The NHL Edge: Washington Capitals vs. New Jersey Devils
The Washington Capitals and New Jersey Devils are set to meet for the third time in the last week, which has already seen the Caps continue their dominance over Jersey this year, adding two more victors by the scores of 4-0 and 4-3. With those two victories, Washington improved to an impressive 6-0 on the season versus the Devils. The streak has ultimately helped them gain 12 points in this standing to be in a first-place tie with the Penguins and Islanders in the East. The Caps are coming off a nightmare 8-4 loss at the hands of those New York Islanders last night, which saw them play both goalies in the blowout. With Ilya Samsonov and Vitek Vanecek both getting action, it’s uncertain who will be between the pipes on Friday night. For the Devils, it should be MacKenzie Blackwood between the pipes, now that he’s back and healthy.
The over-under for this contest is set at 6.5 at the FanDuel Sportsbook, with four of the six games so far in the season series hitting that over. New Jersey’s offense doesn’t really inspire a lot of confidence in the goal-scoring department, as they sit 28th in the league in that category. Conversely, the Capitals definitely do as they have one of the NHL’s most high-powered offenses and sit third overall in the league in goals for. It’s not hard to suspect that we might once again see a high-scoring affair between these two teams and therefore look at the over in this contest, which is currently in plus money territory at +112. It makes sense to consider this as long as it doesn’t rise too much above -110.
In terms of the overall puck line value here, the Capitals have relatively dominated the season series over the Devils, but they’ve also only won two of the six games by multiple goals. With that being said, it’s worth taking a shot with the value here as they sit at +176 to win by at least two goals. As long as it doesn’t move beyond +125, Washington covering the line is worth the risk.