Alex Ovechkin is no longer a conference finals virgin as the Washington Capitals booked a ticket to that round for the first time since 1998. Will the good times keep on rolling for the Caps? Or will the Tampa Bay Lightning draw first blood?
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Betting Preview for the Washington Capitals vs Tampa Bay Lightning NHL Stanley Cup Eastern Conference Final Series Game 1 on May 11, 2018
When: Amalie Arena, Tampa FL
When: Friday, May 11, 3:00 PM EST
Line: Washington Capitals (point spread) vs Tampa Bay Lightning (point spread) – view all NHL lines
TV Broadcast: NBC
Betting on the Washington Capitals (+1.5)
At long last, the Capitals have finally reached their first conference finals in the Alex Ovechkin era. Now comes another difficult challenge, as they look to pass the test in that round in the form of the Lightning. The Caps’ offense has been terrific in the playoffs. In fact, among any teams in the postseason, they have the best average of 3.54 goals per game. The also have the sixth-best defense in the playoffs in terms of goals allowed with opponents netting 2.67 goals per contest. The Caps’ robust offense is largely powered by Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov who have 8 and 7 goals, respectively, in the playoffs. The Lightning’s offense going to be a big challenge for the Caps, but at least they have the steady Braden Holtby in between the pipes. Holtby has an 8-3 record and a 2.04 GAA in 11 starts this postseason.
The Caps are also second in the playoffs in power play percentage with a 30.9 clip on the man advantage.
Betting on the Tampa Bay Lightning (-1.5)
After losing Game 1 of second round to the Boston Bruins, the Lighting stitched four straight wins together to reach the conference finals for the third time in four years. Tampa Bay finished the regular season with the best scoring offense with 3.54 per game. They carried that kind of offense into the playoffs in which they are averaging 3.50 per outing. They also had 17 goals in the Bruins series that lasted just five games. The Bolts feed off their great puck possession ability, as they are tops in the postseason in shot attempts percentage with 54.4. The Caps, meanwhile, are only ninth with 49.19 percent. With so many deadly scorers, the Lightning’ chances to score is being increased significantly by their ability to win possessions. Like Holtby, the Lightning also have a dependable netminder in Andrei Vasilevskiy, who is 8-2 with a 2.20 GAA in 10 starts this postseason.
Writer’s Prediction
Tampa Bay takes Game 1 with a 4-2 win.
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