Free Picks: Washington Capitals vs. Boston Bruins

The Bruins and Capitals have already punched their ticket into the NHL playoffs. Not only that but the B’s and Caps are scheduled for a first-round match-up. With one more regular-season meeting between these teams, will the lack of potential stars impact the total goals? I take a look at other NHL games and how a similar situation could unfold Tuesday.

Ever since the Trade Deadline, the Boston Bruins have been a new team. With the addition of Taylor Hall (among others), Boston has flipped the script from being a playoff-hopeful to Stanley Cup contender. 

Tuesday night, they take on the Washington Capitals in a preview of their first-round playoff series. 

Head-to-head this season, the Capitals are 3-4 against Boston in 7 contests. With one more game on the docket, Washington looks to even the regular-season series. 

48 goals have been scored in 7 games, which has me thinking about potentially betting on total goals for this BetPicks prediction. 

Sometimes, stats can be misleading. But nothing is hidden between these teams. No single game inflated the average goals per game head-to-head. Both teams have fired on all cylinders and have rarely struggled offensively against one another. 

With that being said, I think we see the opposite of regular occurrences. Since this is the last game of the regular season, it wouldn’t shock me to see top-end players get the night off.  

There is no sense in playing stars for a meaningless game, so I would expect to see fan-favorites get the pleasure of watching from the press box Tuesday night. 

Much like the Carolina game in which they rested starters, I think the same thing will happen with Boston and Washington.  

This means there will be sloppy play from both ends as lines get shuffled and players adjust to more ice time. I love giving free picks to games in which I expect lots of scoring, but this isn’t one of those instances. 

Washington’s offense has gone two-straight games with 2 goals, so they aren’t firing on all cylinders entering this contest. Boston is playing on back-to-back nights, so expect the B’s to be less than 100-percent for this game. 

Under normal circumstances, I think we smash the over in total goals. But for the final game of the regular season, goal-scoring will be tough.

• The total has gone under in 10 of Boston’s last 15 games on the road. 
• Boston ranks 2nd in road defence for goals against. 
• The total has gone under in 4 of Washington’s last 5 games at home.  
• 7 of Washington’s 10 games in May have seen the under cash.