Back Flyers To Crush Capitals Tonight

Flyers vs. Capitals, 7:00 ET

After feeling confident in hockey after a few wins, I dropped the play last night. I took the Red Wings to continue their hot play and beat the Islanders, but they couldn't get the job done. I actually thought their defense would win the game for them, and both goalies would play well. Unfortunately for me, the Islanders put up five goals against Detroit. To say my read on the game was off would be a bit of an understatement as I expected the Islanders to score two or fewer goals in the game as well. We move on today and try and get that unit back in a game between the Flyers and Capitals.

Philadelphia has been a solid squad this year with a 33-22-7 record on the season. They currently sit in third place within the Metropolitan Division, and are looking to move up in the standings by beating a team beneath them. The Flyers have actually been a good squad away from their home ice, going 16-9-5 as a visiting team. The Flyers haven't played great hockey lately as they've lost four of the past six games. However, their offense is looking a bit better as they have 12 goals in their past six periods. The team is a bit streaky as well so maybe we are entering a winning streak. Since January 10th, they won five games, lost five games, won four games, and now have lost the four of six. As a whole, the team has nine players that have 25 or more points on the season. They also have six guys with 10 or more goals. I bring this up because this shows that the team is winning together rather than relying on one superstar to do everything. It does get a bit better as well with 17 guys putting up 10 or more points. 10 points 60 games into the season isn't super impressive, but I like to show the involvement of the team. It seems like Samuel Ersson is expected to be in the net tonight. He's been one of the better goalies in the league this season and already won one game against the Capitals this year. 

Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin leaves the ice with the Stanley Cup after defeating the Vegas Golden Knights in the 2018 Stanley Cup Final at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. (Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports)

I have brought this up before, but the Capitals have been the tale of two teams this year. After coming in with very low expectations, they jumped out to a nice start and gave people some hope that they could make the playoffs. Now they sit in fifth place of the Metropolitan Division, and need to start stringing together wins. Since the calendar flipped to 2024, they are just 9-11-3. They've had a really strange stretch of travel but now get to be at home for the start of a two-game home stand. The Capitals do have a superstar on their team, even if he is aging and not quite the man he used to be, Alex Ovechkin still leads the team with 43 points. He doesn't have the most goals or assists though, but still shows that he is very involved, and doing what he can to help the team win games. The Capitals have four guys with 30 or more points on the year and only five with 25+. They also have 17 players with 10 or more points, but it feels like this team is a bit more top heavy than the Flyers who are finding ways to get their whole team involved. Charlie Lindgren is expected to be in the net again and he lost the game against the Flyers the first time. He did save 29 of 32 shot attempts, but that wasn't enough as they fell in a shoot out.

Tonight, I think we take the road team here. The Flyers have played good hockey lately and both teams are on essentially equal rest (the Flyers have one extra day), but it is prior to their most recent game where both of them played on the 27th). I think the travel schedule will also catch up to the Capitals in this game even with the extra rest. I'm taking the Flyers -120 to win this one.