The Capitals won their last game of the season for the right to play the Boston Bruins in round 1. They may regret bringing their A game against the Rangers in that one when this series is complete. I see the Bruins as the most difficult match up for the Caps in the Eastern Conference, but as we all know once the puck drops in the playoffs anything can happen.
Capitals vs Bruins Betting Odds
Capitals +185 (Bookmaker.eu)
Bruins -200 (5Dimes.com)
I expect these odds to stay steady for the next couple days.
Capitals vs Bruins Round 1 Prediction
This is the first time in a long time that the Capitals did not win their division and head into a first round series as the underdog. Maybe that’s a good change of pace because the Caps have not made it past the 2nd round of the playoffs with this core group, lead by Alex Ovechkin. Meanwhile the Bruins are the defending Stanley Cup Champions.
Ovechkin had the worst season of his career by far in terms of production scoring just 65 points. His 38 goals were still better than last seasons 32, but everyone expects 50+ from Ovy. Missing Backstrom for a good portion of the year also didn’t help his production. Semin is another star who was almost invisible this year scoring only 54 points in almost a full season. Semin only has 8 points in his 16 playoff games over the past two seasons and they will need more from him if the Caps have any chance.
I’m usually a Capitals supporter at this time of the year, but I just don’t like their team this year. Ovechkin often tries to do too much in the postseason and the lack of depth the Caps have on this team is cause for concern. Knuble isn’t the player he used to be and has been a healthy scratch many times this year. The offensive responsibilities will fall squarely to Ovechkin, Semin and Backstrom, especially with Mike Green having only 7 points in 32 games this season. I expect Chara to be able to keep Ovechkin and Backstrom in check, which does not bode well for the Caps because they don’t have the depth to match Boston.
The Bruins spread their scoring around with 6 players above 50 points this season as opposed to just 2 on Washington. Seguin, Bergeron, Krejci, Lucic, Marchand and Peverley will get the job done on the scoreboard. Being without Nathan Horton will hurt the Bruins chances in later rounds, but they should have the depth up front to dominate the Caps. The Bruins are built to win with every player knowing his role and contributing.
Boston also has arguably the best defenseman in the league in Zdeno Chara and it wasn’t a fluke that the team has the best goal differential in the league.
Boston as a team is better than the Caps and then when you add in Tim Thomas vs Braden Holtby it gets a lot worse. Thomas is considered an elite goaltender, while Holtby has played just 21 games in his career and only 7 this season. That being said he does have good numbers and an inexperienced goaltender getting hot at the right time has happened before in the NHL. But I don’t think it can happen against the Bruins who have just too man good forwards.
Play: Bruins -200 (5Dimes.com)
Keys To Bruins Victory
- Shut Down Ovechkin and Backstrom – This duty will likely fall to Zdeno Chara and possibly Rich Peverley or Chris Kelly. The Caps only hope for offense comes from these players and shutting them down would mean the end for the Capitals.
- Don’t Pull a Blackhawks Circa Last Season – Stanley Cup hangovers can also occur when the playoffs begin. The Bruins have to come out of the gate hard and avoid doing what the Blackhawks did last year going down 3 games to 0 out of the gate.
- Crash The Net – Holtby is an inexperienced goalie and the Bruins crash the net and make life difficult for the oppositions netminder better than anyone in the league. They need to do this and try to get Holtby off his game.
Written by: Niko de Jonge
Tagged with: Boston Bruins betting • NHL Playoffs betting • Washington Capitals betting