We took a little time off, as life gets busy and we can't always hit the deadline. Its playoff hockey time and I love this time of year, not just to watch but to cash in! Tonight's matchup takes us to the Nations Capital, Washington DC. The Washington Capitals take on the Boston Bruins in game two action. The Capitals took game one 3-2, lets hit the ice and see who takes game two.
The Bruins came into game one flying high and expecting to roll. The "Perfection Line" of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, and David Pastrnak is the driving force behind most of that optimism. The Capitals held them in check, as only Pastrnak notched a point. Bergeron did his usual stellar job in the faceoff circle, but Marchand was the missing man, I think he bounces back tonight after leading the Bruin attack in scoring all year. Tuuka Rask will get the call between the pipes and he played well, but had some tough puck bounces in game one. The Vezina Trophy candidate needs to have a strong performance tonight to even the series up tonight.
The Washington Capitals took game one by force, out hitting the Bruins and grinding out the win. Injuries have been a big part of the Capitals year, and game one saw another major one as star goalie Vitek Vanecheck came up lame after doing a split to stop the Bruins first goal. Veteran Craig Anderson stepped in and performed admirably in his place, stopping 21 shots and only surrendering one power play goal. The talk heading in was about if Alex Ovechkin was going to be 100%, he answered the bell with his physical play sparking the Capitals play. Tom Wilson was another story heading into this series, more for his goonish style of play then his skill. He flipped the script in game one, netting the opening goal and sliding the pass on the game winning goal. TJ Oshie chipped in two assists to complete a well rounded first game showing for the Capitals offense.
The season series was split 4-4 and I expect this trend to continue. The Bruins were the faster team in game one and controlled the pace for most of the game. I look for Brad Marchand to take a page from Tom Wilson and lead his "Perfection Line" to a monstrous performance in game two. Tuuka Rask must outshine Craig Anderson and even this series up tonight in Washington. The Bruins don't want to head back to Boston down 0-2 and I expect they perform with that urgency tonight.
PICK: Boston Bruins -130 (1 unit)
YTD: 3-2 +0.6
MTD: 2-1 +0.9
MLB: 3-1 +1.9
NHL: 0-1 -1.3
NCAAF: 0-0
NFL: 0-0
NCAAB: 0-0
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