The Pittsburgh Penguins are one win away from a trip to the NHL’s Eastern Conference Finals, but they will have to beat the Washington Capitals one more time starting with this Saturday’s Game 5 at the Verizon Center. Game time is set for 7:15 p.m. (ET) and it will be broadcast nationally on NBC.
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Pittsburgh has now won the last three games of this series after dropping Game 1 in overtime by a score of 4-3 as a +111 road underdog. The biggest win came this past Wednesday in a 3-2 overtime victory as a +117 underdog at home. The total has ended as a PUSH in that game and it has now gone 1-1-2 in this series.
The is no doubt that the Penguins have the firepower in their lineup to score goals with the likes of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin leading way with a combined 18 points in the postseason. However, this series has turned in their favor behind the play of goalie Matt Murray. Pressed into service due to an injury to Marc-Andre Fleury, he has been spectacular between the pipes with a goals-against average of 1.81 and a .944 save percentage in seven postseason starts.
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Washington was clearly the best team in the NHL in the regular season with a league high 120 points, but ever since it took a 3-0 series lead against Philadelphia in the opening round of these playoffs it has won just twice in its last seven games. The Capitals closed as favorites in six of those contests and the total has stayed UNDER or ended as a PUSH in six of the seven games.
The biggest problem with Washington during this current slide has been the inability to light the lamp. The Capitals posted a total of 12 goals in the first three games of the Flyers’ series, but since then they have only managed to score more than two goals in one of their next seven outings. Alex Ovechkin has four goals and four assists in the postseason, but he has been held to just one goal in his last five games. Braden Holtby has gone the distance in goal and he continues to play well with a 1.59 GAA combined with a save percentage of .945.
The Penguins are 11-2 in their last 13 road games and they are 20-6 in their last 26 Metro Division games. The total has stayed UNDER in three of their last games on the road.
The Capitals are 2-5 in their last seven games against the Metro and they have lost six of their last seven games in the conference semifinals. The total has stayed UNDER in three of their last five games played on a Saturday.
Head-to-head in this division rivalry, the home team is 5-2 in the last seven meetings and the total has stayed UNDER in nine of the last 14 meetings in Washington.
