Washington Capitals vs Florida Panthers Prediction, Pick and Preview, May 3 (5/3): NHL

Credit: photo by Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

 

Odds:

Time	7:30 p.m. EST
Capitals money line	+185
Capitals spread	+1.5 (-130)
Panthers money line	-225
Panthers spread	-1.5 (+110)
Over / under	6.5

 

2021-2022 season stats

	Washington Capitals	Florida Panthers
Record	44-26-12	58-18-6
Road / home record	25-10-6	34-7
Streak	L2	W1
Goals per game	3.34	4.11
Goals allowed per game	2.93	2.95
Shots per game	31.4	37.3
Shots allowed per game	29.1	30.7
PP %	19.2%	24.40%
PK %	18.81%	15.94%
Over / under record	46-30-4	38-41-1

 

Preview

The Washington Capitals and the Florida Panthers will meet at the FLA Live Arena to play the Game 1 of the playoffs 1st round in the East. This is the fourth time these teams face off this season, the Panthers have the lead 2-1. 

Washington Capitals

The Capitals have lost their last 4 games and are 25-16 on the road with a 44-26-12 record overall ranking 4th in the Metropolitan division. The Capitals are 29-21 in conference matchups. Washington ranks sixth in the Eastern Conference recording 8.7 points per game, averaging 3.3 goals and 5.4 assists.

Alex Ovechkin leads the Capitals with 50 goals and has 90 points. John Carlson has three goals and eight assists over the last 10 games for Washington.

In their last 10 games the Capitals are 4-6, averaging 3.5 goals, 6.9 assists, 3.2 penalties and 7.8 penalty minutes while allowing 3.4 goals per game with an .888 save percentage.

Florida Panthers

The Panthers have lost 3 of their last 5 games and are 34-7 at home this season, with a 58-18-6 record overall ranking 1st in the Atlantic Division. The Panthers are 37-13 in Eastern Conference games. Florida leads the Eastern Conference shooting 11.1% and averaging 4.1 goals on 37.6 shots per game.

Jonathan Huberdeau leads the Panthers with 85 assists and has 115 points this season. Aleksander Barkov has 39 goals for Florida.

In their last 10 games the Panthers are 7-3, averaging 3.8 goals, 8.2 assists, 3.7 penalties and 8.5 penalty minutes while giving up 3.2 goals per game with a .915 save percentage.

BETTING TRENDS

Washington are 1-5 SU in their last 6 games.

Washington are 4-8 SU in their last 12 games against Florida.

Florida are 14-3 SU in their last 17 games.

The total has gone OVER in 8 of Florida's last 8 games against Washington.

Prediction

The Capitals lost their last 4 games of the regular season and they lost 2 of 3 times against the Panthers but they gave quite a fight in all the games losing by only 1 goal on those losses. The over cashed in all of the last 3 head to head games with an average score of 4-4.33 favoring the Panthers. I expect another high scoring game, take the over.

PICK: Over 6.5 (-110)

Find more sports picks from the top sports bettors and NHL experts all in one place using our iOS and Google Play apps, as well as our other articles at Kingpin.pro.  We are the home for NHL picks, sports picks and sports betting.