Welcome back to NHL Predictions here at Last Word On Hockey. This is where we provide analysis, insights, and predictions for upcoming NHL games. Tonight, the St. Louis Blues return home after a three-game Canadian road trip to take on the all-time NHL leading goal scorer Alex Ovechkin and his Washington Capitals.<\/p>\n
NHL Predictions, with Washington Capitals and St. Louis Blues<\/p>\n
Time: 8:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time<\/p>\n
How to Watch<\/a> TV: FDSNMW, MNMT<\/p>\n 2025-2026 Season Series: 0-1-0 After a three-game road trip up north, the St. Louis Blues hope to keep up their solid play at home. With seven wins in the last ten, head coach Jim Montgomery<\/a>\u2019s team is developing good chemistry. Unfortunately, only 14 games remain for the Blues. Even with an unreal streak of 13 straight wins (which they have come close to!), the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs are all but out of reach.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Capitals<\/a> come to St. Louis with points in five straight games. On Sunday night, Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin<\/a> scored his 1,000th career goal (regular season and playoffs). When these two teams met in Washington this past November, he hit another career milestone. Early on in that second period, Ovechkin scored his 900th career regular season goal<\/a>, becoming the first person in NHL history to do so.\u00a0<\/p>\n Alex Ovechkin and Jeremy Roenick Jeremy Roenick and Alex Ovechkin host a Pre NHL awards party at LAVO nightclub at The Palazzo Resort Casino. Las Vegas, Nevada \u2013 22.06.10<\/p>\n Both of these teams have their focus on the future. The Capitals desperately need these points to stay in the Eastern Conference playoff race, but that is not their main concern. Ovechkin has yet to confirm nor deny if this is his final year in the NHL. He will ultimately go down as one of the greatest players in the history of the game. The Capitals need to be prepared for what comes next. The Blues meanwhile, will only hurt their future with a win tonight. They do not control their own path into the postseason, but they do control how good their odds of a top draft pick can be this summer.<\/p>\n Can the Capitals Climb?<\/p>\n Most eyes on the Metropolitan Division have been on the battle between Pittsburgh<\/a>, Columbus<\/a>, and the New York Islanders<\/a>. Those three teams are separated by one point between second in the division and last in the Eastern Conference Wild Card position. The Capitals meanwhile, are lurking in the weeds. They enter tonight six points out of the playoffs with eleven games remaining.\u00a0<\/p>\n If Washington is going to make a run, they are going to need more consistent play over the next ten games. With a current ten game record of 4-4-2, they are on pace to have around 90 points at the end of the season. While this would give them a respectable record, it does not look to be a pace that will secure them a postseason berth.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n This very well could be the last time fans in St. Louis can see Alex Ovechkin. The Capitals end the season with a back to back set of games against the Penguins before one last trip to Columbus. It would be poetic for him to hang up the skates after one final battle with Sidney Crosby<\/a>. Washington\u2019s positioning at the end of the season is certain to help drive Ovechkin\u2019s future decision as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n Budding Blues<\/p>\n A 7-1-2 pace throughout the season would be historic. Only Jim Montgomery<\/a>\u2019s 2022-2023 Boston Bruins<\/a> maintained a better pace throughout an 82 game season. At one point before the Olympic Break, the Blues had lost eight out of nine games in a row, with seven of those nine in regulation. A point here or there could have propelled the Blues into a much better situation with just 13 games remaining.\u00a0<\/p>\n Instead of jockeying for playoff positioning, the future core of the Blues are able to get significant development at the highest level. In Sunday\u2019s win over Vancouver<\/a>, defenceman Logan Mailloux<\/a> notched two assists as his ice time continued to increase. Potential future captain Robert Thomas<\/a> has led the charge along with linemates Dylan Holloway<\/a> and underrated rookie Jimmy Snuggerud<\/a>. NHL Predictions:<\/p>\n The Capitals have been in a desperate situation before. Ovechkin has only missed the playoffs three times in his 18 year tenure in Washington. While it does not look got for them at the moment, it\u2019s hard to bet against his ability and leadership. Meanwhile, the Blues look like they are playing with belief. Many other teams hold the Blues\u2019 destiny in their hands but if they keep playing good hockey, who knows what could happen. One thing is for certain. Teams next year will know not to overlook the Blues if they keep this going.\u00a0<\/p>\n Predictions: Washington wins 4-3 (overtime).<\/p>\n Prop Bets:<\/p>\n The over\/under for this game is set at 5.5 goals. With a predicted seven goals total, we are taking the over at -125. No Blues player has 20 goals on the season yet, but we think Jordan Kyrou<\/a> gets one more tonight, so we\u2019ll take him at +230. Capitals youngster Ryan Leonard<\/a> has impressed all season. We like him with a goal at +320.<\/p>\n Main Photo Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
Location: Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Missouri<\/p>\n
The future of St. Louis\u2019 goaltending seems to also be resolved. Jordan Binnington<\/a> earned just his 11th win on Sunday, to pair with his 19 regulation losses. Joel Hofer<\/a> meanwhile, boasts 17 wins and has the second most shutouts of every goaltender in the league (five). Binnington\u2019s name has been mentioned in trade talks going back to last year. After this past deadline, Binnington is now the \u2018grizzled vet\u2019 of the group, and a change of scenery seems like it could do both parties some good.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Please play responsibly, check for your local rules and age restrictions; some jurisdictions require ages 21+. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Welcome back to NHL Predictions here at Last Word On Hockey. This is where we provide analysis, insights,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":520077,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5120],"tags":[426,71,5,4,534,84,33535,5285,5284,1778],"class_list":{"0":"post-520076","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-louis-blues","8":"tag-alex-ovechkin","9":"tag-blues","10":"tag-hockey","11":"tag-nhl","12":"tag-st-louis","13":"tag-st-louis-blues","14":"tag-st-louis-blues-predictions","15":"tag-stlouis","16":"tag-stlouisblues","17":"tag-washington-capitals-predictions"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116284242405370934","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=520076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520076\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/520077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}