Capitals Will Run It Back Against Flyers Tonight

Flyers vs. Capitals, 7:30 ET

It wasn't exactly an exciting first time that I played an NHL game this season for Outkick. Last night, there were 16 games in the NHL, and I put a play out on one game, this one between the Stars and the Sabers. The play was under six goals in the game, and it ended with exactly six goals. A push really isn't the end of the world and something that I'll take any day of the week, but it was kind of uneventful for the first play of my NHL season. I'll try and capture this elusive first win here with the Flyers and Capitals taking each other on.

The Flyers come into the game looking for something, anything to give them a bit of a jolt in the early portion of this campaign. After winning their first game of the season, they have dropped five in a row, with one of those losses coming in overtime. Overall, their defense has struggled to contain their opponent in these five games. They held their opponent to fewer than four goals just once in the past five games. In that game, against the Canucks, the offense didn't show up at all, with them losing 3-0. In fact, the Flyers have scored just one goal in the past six periods. Perhaps this is just a bad stretch for the Flyers and they will snap out of it. If it was the middle of the season, maybe the struggle wouldn't be quite as evident. For the season, they are allowing 4.17 goals per game to opponents and scoring just 2 per game, a significant difference. The expectation is that Ivan Fedotov goes in the net tonight. He will make his third start of the season and has allowed five goals in both of the games. He is struggling quite to start his career. This would be just the sixth game he has played in and he has allowed 20 goals in the five appearances that he has in his career.

Oct 22, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Flyers goaltender Samuel Ersson (33) during the third period against the Washington Capitals at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

The Capitals are on the other end of the spectrum at the moment. Right now, Washington is 4-1-0 for the season and looks to ride this hot start as long as possible. After starting the season with a loss to the Devils, they've taken down four straight victories. There was only one game where they allowed more than two goals. They have allowed five goals to the Devils in both of the games they played against New Jersey, but splitting them has to feel pretty good. The most recent game that the Capitals played was against the Flyers. It actually happened yesterday and was a 4-1 victory for Washington. They were in command pretty quickly, scoring two goals in the opening period. Logan Thompson will mind the net tonight, and just to be clear, he was not in last night. For the season, Thompson is 2-0-0 with 3.41 goals against per game and an .877 save percentage. The winning is nice, but I am a bit concerned about the save percentage. It will be nice for the Flyers to get a different goalie to look at, and Thompson is a good backup option. This isn't everything, but last season he was 1-0-1 against the Capitals and held them to 2.98 goals against per game.

There are two ways to think about this game, the scoring could be rather low because the two teams are in a back-to-back with travel. The other option is to focus on the moneyline of the game. One team is playing very well and doing great. The other team is struggling and looks terrible. I'm going to back the Capitals in this one at -135, I think this is the safer option and the Capitals have the better goalie in this one.

For more sports betting information and plays, follow David on X/Twitter: @futureprez2024