Check out a top prediction and pick for tonight’s Washington Capitals vs. San Jose Sharks matchup as part of the Wednesday NHL slate.
After a strong 3-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings last night, the Washington Capitals play the second leg of a West Coast back-to-back tonight against the San Jose Sharks. With a five-game winning streak, Alex Ovechkin and his teammates bring some significant momentum into the matchup but will face a fun, young group headlined by Macklin Celebrini as he takes the leap into stardom.
Here’s a Capitals vs. Sharks prediction and pick on DraftKings Sportsbook for Wednesday’s contest.
Capitals vs. Sharks prediction, preview
Washington Capitals
Following last night’s victory over an elite Kings defense, the Capitals are up to 34 points and now sit tied for the lead in the Metropolitan division. Washington pushed the goal differential up to +21, tied for second-best in the NHL as the team continues to play fantastic hockey on both ends of the ice. The Capitals rank sixth in GF/GP (3.37) and second in GA/GP (2.52), so they’re truly elite on both offense and defense… at least in five-on-five. Tom Wilson notched another point last night to reach 30, while Alex Ovechkin bumped his own total to 27. The other three skaters with 20+ points are Jakob Chychrun (23), John Carlson (23) and Dylan Strome (21). That’s impressive production at the top, and that’s even with Aliaksei Protas sitting at 17 points with a team-best +20 +/-. Washington did score a power-play goal last night, but special teams play remains the team’s one weakness with a PP% of a meager 16.5% and penalty kill stopping scorers at a 72.5% rate. If this group can solidify that aspect of its game, the sky feels like the limit in the Eastern Conference.
San Jose Sharks
The Sharks aren’t as veteran-heavy as the Caps are, but there’s a lot to like about this group’s game. They’re young, scrappy, and led by a 19-year-old superstar in Macklin Celebrini. The forward sits second in the entire NHL with 40 points on the campaign, marking an incredible leap into the league’s upper echelon. He’s tailed in San Jose in points by Will Smith with 27, then forwards Tyler Toffoli and William Eklund with 18 and 17 apiece. The Sharks don’t particularly dominate based on the team stats of a 2.93 GF/GP (21st) and 3.19 GA/GP (19th), and a goal differential of -7 doesn’t spark a ton of confidence either. They’re largely average on special teams with a 19.2% PP% and 81.7% PK%, and they also get outshot in most contests with 24.4 shots per game while allowing 31.7 per contest. Yet somehow, they make enough of the right plays to still sneak their way into wins. Scrappy is the word for this San Jose roster, and it’s tough to count the bunch out in any given contest.
Capitals vs. Sharks pick, best bet
DraftKings Sportsbook lists the Capitals as -155 favorites on the Moneyline tonight, while the Sharks come in at +130. The total sits at 6.5 combined goals. So far, 64% of the straight bets support the Caps to win outright with 57% of bets on the total favoring the under.
In net tonight for Washington is backup Charlie Lindgren, whose 3.12 GAA and .886 SV% are far from stellar across nine games this season. San Jose sees usual starter Yaroslav Askarov between the posts with a 2.96 GAA and .910 SV%.
While the Sharks’ competence over the course of the campaign has turned heads along with Celebrini’s meteoric rise to elite status, they’re still a little difficult to trust in matchups like this one. The Capitals don’t have anyone who matches the young star in points, but they do deploy an array of higher-end scorers who can rise up on any given night to win a game. There’s a lot more top-end talent both in the forward lines and the top two defensive pairings, and the blue line is one of the best in the entire NHL. Now, the play of Lindgren will play a massive role tonight and he may very well let a goal or two sneak by, but Washington allows the fifth-fewest shots to opponents and may be able to insulate the netminder a bit. With San Jose’s own blue line failing to get many stops and allowing the most shot attempts per game, the Capitals should pressure Askarov plenty here. It’s far easier to trust the visitors’ veterans, even on the second leg of this back-to-back.
Best Bet: WAS Capitals 60 Min Line (-105)