NHL opening night: Washington Capitals at Boston Bruins
Good matchup for the first game of the NHL season, as two teams with Stanley Cup aspirations meet with the Capitals visiting Boston, the team with the Eastern Conference’s best record last year.
The Bruins have opened as moneyline favorites for tonight’s game on WagerWeb.com.
Both these teams won their respective divisions last year and both were ousted in the second round of the playoffs.
Boston won the Northeast Division and was the top seed heading into the East playoffs but was shocked Carolina in the second round.
Washington was the East’s No. 2 seed after winning its second straight Southeast Division title, but the Caps were bounced in the second round in Game 7 by eventual Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh. Of course the Caps are led by two-time MVP Alexander Ovechkin, who also has led the NHL in goals the past two seasons (he had 56 last year).
This series has been even the past two seasons, with the B’s having a 3-3-2 record vs. Washington.
Special teams seem to make the difference as Boston had two power-play goals in its lone win vs. Washington last season. The Caps, getting three wins, had at least one power-play goal in all four games.
Boston, which opens the season five games straight home games, is expecting center David Krejci to play tonight. The center, who had 22 goals and 51 assists last year, had hip surgery in June but looks recovered enough to suit up. Krejci, who centers the No. 2 line, had the NHL’s best plus-minus rating last year at plus-37. He was held to one goal and no assists in the four games against Washington last year.
Also in the lineup tonight for the first time since a January injury will be forward Marco Sturm, who led the Bruins with 27 goals in 2007-08 and will be looked upon to help compensate for the loss of Phil Kessel’s scoring potential; Kessel, who led Boston in scoring last season, was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs a few weeks ago.
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