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The Washington Capitals and Toronto Maple Leafs meet Thursday in NHL action at the Scotiabank Arena. The Washington Capitals look to build on their four-game winning streak. The Toronto Maple Leafs look for a win after winning 10 of their last 14 games.
The Washington Capitals are averaging 3.3 goals per game and are scoring on 19.9 percent of their power play opportunities. Alex Ovechkin leads Washington with 46 goals, John Carlson has 50 assists and Evgeny Kuznetsov has 191 shots on goal. Defensively, the Washington Capitals are allowing 2.9 goals per game and are killing 81.2 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Vitek Vanecek has given up 86 goals on 967 shots faced, and IIya Samsonov has allowed 97 goals on 958 shots.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are averaging 3.8 goals per game and are scoring on 29.4 percent of their power play opportunities. Auston Matthews leads Toronto with 58 goals, Mitchell Marner has 59 assists and William Nylander has 229 shots on goal. Defensively, the Toronto Maple Leafs are allowing 3.1 goals per game and are killing 83.5 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Jack Campbell has given up 113 goals on 1,282 shots faced, and Petr Mrazek has allowed 58 goals on 520 shots.
The Capitals are 39-19 in their last 58 road games and 4-0 in their last 4 overall. The Maple Leafs are 35-16 in their last 51 home games and 45-21 in their last 66 overall. The over is 20-7-1 in Capitals last 28 overall. The over is 34-13-4 in Maple Leafs last 51 overall. The Capitals are 5-1 in the last 6 meetings in Toronto and 16-7 in the last 23 meetings.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have been the better team this season, their offense is scary, and they’re going to get the benefit of the doubt for obvious reasons. However, the Washington Capitals have gotten off the mat these last couple of weeks, and they’ve done some of their best work this season on the road. The Capitals in the underdog role, especially in their current form, is hard to turn down. I’ll take a shot with the home dog here.