Capitals And Senators Should Have Low-Scoring Matchup

Capitals vs. Senators, 7:00 ET

With the crazy political landscape going on right now, it only makes sense that the politically affiliated hockey teams take to the ice and start smashing into each other, right? Sure, bad puns and dad jokes aside, it would be fun to see our government have to participate in some sort of athletic competition. I have all sorts of weird ideas to make politics more enjoyable, but that's a different story for a different day. We are here to focus on the Capitals vs. Senators as they take to the ice tonight.

The Washington Capitals are having a great season to this point with a strong 29-10-5 record, and they've played well away from their home ice as well with a 14-6-1 record. The team is well-balanced and figuring out multiple ways to win games. They are led by Alex Ovechkin still, but Dylan Strome has been their points leader and assists leader this season. The Capitals have one of the best offenses in the league as they have a 3.61 goals per game average. Their defense has also been superb. I suppose both should be expected given their record, but holding teams to a full goal lower - 2.52 goals allowed per game - is impressive. They've also played pretty well lately, going 3-1 over their past four games and 3-2 over the past five. Both losses came in overtime or a shootout. It is expected that Logan Thompson will mind the net for the Capitals in this one. He has been phenomenal this season and is a key for the success of the team. Thompson is 19-2-3 for the season with a 2.23 goals allowed per game average, and a .921 save percentage. All of those numbers are top five in the league. He will certainly make it tough on the Senators.

 

The Senators are no pushover, but they haven't had the success this season that the Capitals have experienced. Ottawa comes into this one with a 22-18-3 record. They are better at home, but I wouldn't say they are great on their home turf. They currently are must 11-7-1 at home, which is respectable but not really a bankable aspect to their game. For the season, their numbers are a lot less impressive with just 2.88 goals per game scored, and allowing 2.77 goals against per game. They are taking two more shots per game than their opponents which is encouraging, and does give me a bit more faith that they are okay. The Senators have won the past three games and shut out opponents in two of the past three games. The goalie for tonight is likely to be Leevi Merilainen. For the season, he only has seven games under his belt, but has looked good in the majority of them with a 5-2-0 record and a 1.99 goals against per game average. He also has a strong .925 save percentage. I know it isn't a great number of games for a sample, but he's done a nice job.

With these goalies, I think both of them have a good chance to pitch a shutout. We have one of the best in the game with Thompson, and with Merilainen we have one of the better ones at the moment. I like the Capitals to win the game at -108 because they are the better team, but I think under 5.5 goals is the right look in this one.