Washington Capitals at St. Louis Blues odds, picks and betting tips
The Washington Capitals (0-0) and St. Louis Blues (0-0) hook up for the 2019-20 National Hockey League regular-season opener in a game featuring the past two Stanley Cup champions. Puck drop at Enterprise Center is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET.
Capitals at Blues: Projected starting goalies
Braden Holtby vs. Jordan Binnington
Holtby was 32-19-5 with a 2.82 goals-against average and .911 save percentage with three shutouts across 59 games last season. In last year's start on Jan. 3 in St. Louis, Holtby stopped 37 of the 42 shots he faced in a 5-2 loss against Jake Allen. The Blues swept the two-game season series, with backup Pheonix Copley absorbing the other loss.
Binnington came up to the big club and posted a 24-5-1 record, 1.89 GAA and .927 SV% with five shutouts. This will be his first-career appearance against LW Alex Ovechkin and the Caps.
Capitals at Blues: By the numbers
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- Capitals W Brett Connolly, who scored one of the two goals in the most recent meeting with the Blues, joined the Florida Panthers in the offseason.
- The champs added D Justin Faulk from the Carolina Hurricanes for D Joel Edmundsson in late September.
- The Blues ranked fifth with 2.70 goals allowed per game while ranking fourth in shots against (28.6) and ninth in penalty kill percentage (81.5).
- St. Louis was also solid in the faceoff circle, ranking sixth. It ranked 10th on the power play (21.1%).
- The Caps ranked fifth in the NHL with 3.3 goals per game, and they were 12th on the man advantage (20.8%).
- Washington was the worst team statistically at the faceoff dot at just 45.7%, and they were 24th on the penalty kill (78.9%).
Capitals at Blues: Key injuries
Caps C Evgeny Kuznetsov is suspended to begin the season. He's first eligible to return Oct. 8. Oveckin was nicked up at the end of preseason with a lower-body issue, but is fully expected to play.
Blues C Ivan Barbashev (lower body) is a question mark, as is RW Oskar Sundqvist (upper body).
Capitals at Blues: Odds, picks and betting tips
Odds courtesy of BetMGM; access them at Paste BN Sports for a full set of today's betting odds. Odds last updated Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. ET.
Moneyline : St. Louis (-139) opens its defense of the Cup as moderate favorites at home, but the value play here is WASHINGTON (+115). Too many distractions with a banner raising, plus a good offensive team on the other side. The puck line is Caps (+1.5, -250).
Over/under : Take the OVER (5.5, -105) with two strong offensive teams in a showcase opener. Last season it was all about first-period overs, so invest a small-unit bet on OVER (1.5, -115) in the opening 20, too.
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