Capitals at Lightning 5/23/18 - NHL Picks & Predictions

On Wednesday, the Washington Capitals will visit the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 7 of their NHL Eastern Conference Finals best of seven series with the winner moving on to play in the Stanley Cup Finals against the Las Vegas Golden Knights.

Washington tied the series at 3-3 on Monday night with a 3-0 win at home. Washington came out physical in Game 6 hitting anything that moved as they were determined to finish checks as much as they could. T.J. Oshie scored twice for the Caps; on a power play and into an empty net. The bruising and battering style the Caps played with kept the team alive for Game 7. Perennial high scorer Alex Ovechkin led the grueling charge in Game 6 throwing his body into anyone wearing a Tampa Bay uniform, with hits ending in favor of Washington 39-19. This postseason, Evgeny Kuznetsov leads the Capitals in goals with 11, assists with 12 and points with 23. Braden Holtby in 17 appearances in net for the Capitals this postseason is 11-6 with a goal’s against of 2.16 and a save percentage of .919. During the regular season, Washington was 9th in goals scored per game at 3.1, 16th in goals against per game at 2.9, 7th in power play percentage at 22.5, and 15th in penalty kill percentage at 80.3.

During the postseason, Nikita Kucherov leads Tampa Bay in goals scored with seven, in assists with 10 and in points with 17. Andrei Vasilevskiy in 16 playoff games in net for Tampa Bay is 11-5 with a goals against of 2.55 and a save percentage of .920. During the regular season, Tampa Bay was 1st in goals scored at 3.5, 13th in goals against at 2.9, 3rd in power play percentage at 23.9, and 27th in penalty kill percentage at 76.1.