Bruins vs Capitals: Betting odds, live streaming, Boston needing a win

On the back of a really rough result in Ottawa, the Boston Bruins will look to turn things around against the league leading Washington Capitals.

Luckily for the Boston Bruins, they’re not the only team coming off a 5-2 loss. The Capitals fell to the Columbus Blue Jackets in their most recent fixture to that exact same scoreline. Both teams go into the game ever so slightly wounded, no doubt seeking to set records straight.

Both sides welcomed back key players last game too; with the Capitals welcoming Niklas Backstrom back whilst the Bruins saw the returning Patrice Bergeron grab a goal in their losing effort against the Senators.

The biggest key to coming away from this fixture with the win will be for the Bruins to ensure they get their power-play going. While Boston sits at 28% for the season, the past week their power-play is operating at just 8.3% – that’s a significant gap to make up.

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What is even more bothersome is the fact that, with the exception of Patrice Bergeron returning, likewise John Moore, not much has actually changed.

It leads you to think that maybe teams have sussed out the Bruins on the man-advantage. They’ll be hoping that isn’t the case against a Washington penalty-kill ranked among the top ten in the league.

In terms of players; the key pair that need to be kept quiet are the obvious one; Alex Ovechkin and the less obvious one; John Carlson who has broken out in a big way this season. He leads the league’s defensemen by a significant 13-point margin with his 43 points thus far this year.

With that said though, both David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand managed to add two points apiece against the Senators and continue at 1.45 and 1.48 points-per-game pace respectively. That is what the Capitals will be contending with.

In terms of injuries, the Boston Bruins finally seem to be getting over the hump in that regard, with Karson Kuhlman and Kevan Miller still not back but John Moore has now returned at least. It’ll be an intriguing decision for Bruce Cassidy with regards to giving Moore a rest and bringing back Connor Clifton or retaining the veteran in the line-up.

Given these two teams are one and two in the standings, we should be in for a classic. Neither is going to want to lose and both have some very clear offensive threats. The Bruins out-match the Caps on the power-play, so that’ll be the key to turning their recent form around and getting back to winning ways.

BRUINS BETTINGS ODDS & LINES

Courtesy of The Action Network, the Bruins are +110 on the Moneyline (best line). The Capitals comparatively are -120 at the time of writing.

56% of the bets placed thus far are leaning Boston’s way though with margins so tight, it’s fair to say those making the odds can’t pick a winner with any degree of certainty here.

BRUINS PROJECTED LINEUP

Daily Faceoff projects Jaroslav Halak starting this one, with Braden Holtby his likely adversary in the opposition net.

HOW TO WATCH

ESPN+ has a free 7-day trial that includes live streaming for this game on all your smart devices! Besides games between the NHL league leaders, ESPN+ features a selection of live games from MLB, MLS, Serie A, FA Cup, and EFL.

If you’d like to purchase tickets to this game, StubHub has tickets in the Mezzanine End listed around the $50 mark at the time of this writing. This game will also be televised on NBCSN and TVAS.

The puck drops at 7PM Eastern Time with both these teams looking to turn their fortunes around. Weird thing to say for the number one and number two team in the league, but recent results suggest it to be the case!