Columbus Blue Jackets at Washington Capitals 2/8/22 - NHL Picks & Predictions

The Washington Capitals will open the second half of the NHL season Tuesday night at home when they welcome the Columbus Blue Jackets to Capital One Arena. Columbus is 20-22-1 on the year after losing three of the last five games played including an 8-4 loss to Florida in their final game before the All-Star break. Elvis Merzlikins had one of his worst games of the season against Florida posting a .720 save percentage after allowing seven goals on 25 shots in 40 minutes on the ice.

Patrik Laine carried the Columbus offense against Florida with two goals on three shots in just under 17 minutes on the ice. Emil Bemstrom and Gustav Nyquist punched in one goal each to round out the Columbus scoring attack.

The Washington Capitals are 25-13-9 on the year after losing three of the last five games played before the break. Washington used a balanced scoring attack against Edmonton as three different players found the net in the game.

Offensively this season Washington has played well averaging 3.19 goals per game on 31.5 shots. Alex Ovechkin leads the Washington offense with 58 points this season to go along with 29 goals on 213 shots.