NHL Picks: Ovechkin, Capitals will keep rolling against Coyotes – CBSSports.com
Welcome to the NHL Daily Picks where hockey writers Adam Gretz and Chris Peters make their selections for all of the day’s games.
Arizona Coyotes vs. Washington Capitals, 7 p.m. ET
The Washington Capitals are not only running away with the Metropolitan Division and the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, they are in the driver’s seat to win the Presidents’ Trophy with the NHL’s best regular season record for the second time in franchise history.
They are also having one of the best seasons in league history.
Entering their game against the Arizona Coyotes on Monday night, the Capitals are just the fourth team in NHL history (and the first since the 1979-80 Philadelphia Flyers) to recorded at least 90 points through their first 57 games of the season, joining a list that includes only the Flyers and two of the great 1970s Montreal Canadiens teams. Each of those three teams ended up reaching the Stanley Cup Final, while the Canadiens (in 1977 and 1978) ended up winning it all.
If they beat the Coyotes on Monday, they will be the first team to ever win 44 of their first 58 games.
Sure, they get the advantage of playing in the era of the shootout (they have three shootout wins this season), but it is still an unbelievable record and no other team in the NHL is within nine points. Only three teams (the Chicago Blackhawks, Dallas Stars and St. Louis Blues) are closer than 15 points.
Leading the way once again is Alex Ovechkin whose goal-scoring game has reached an entirely new level over the past two months with 22 goals over his past 25 games. That run has helped him climb back into the top spot in the NHL goal scoring race and has put him on track to potentially win his sixtth goal scoring crown and record yet another 50 goal season. If he reaches that mark again it will be the seventh of his career, something only Mike Bossy and Wayne Gretzky have done.
While the Capitals are cruising to a division title, the Coyotes are trying to hang onto their playoff hopes entering play on five points out of a wild card spot in the Western Conference. The status for their top player, defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson, is not known for the game after he had to leave their game on Saturday against the St. Louis Blues with a lower body injury.
He accompanied the team on the trip and is currently listed as “day-to-day.” Either way, having to go into a game against the best team in the NHL — and the highest scoring team in the NHL — without your top defenseman, or having him play at less than 100 percent, is not ideal.
The Capitals have won three games in a row and eight of their past nine. That streak will continue on Monday against the Coyotes. Pick: Washington Capitals 4, Arizona Coyotes 2
The rest of Monday’s picks
Boston Bruins 4, Columbus Blue Jackets 1
Nashville Predators 5, Montreal Canadiens 3
San Jose Sharks 3, St. Louis Blues 2
Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals keep winning. (USATSI)
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