NHL Picks: Friday’s NHL action is highlighted by the Washington Capitals visiting the Chicago Blackhawks. The Capitals started strongly under new head coach Barry Trotz but they have hit the skids lately, as they had dropped four straight before Tuesday’s game against Calgary. On the other side, the Blackhawks also haven’t played well as they had lost five of their past seven before the game on Tuesday against Montreal. This game is one of five on the NHL schedule for Friday. Let’s look at all of the action and NHL picks.
Washington at Chicago – The honeymoon is already over for Barry Trotz in Washington. That is what happens when a team loses four in a row. Trotz is now getting on his players and pushing them harder in practice. Whether it matters is the question as the team still doesn’t play defense and they don’t have a quality goaltender. The Caps are 2-3 on the road this season. They are allowing 2.8 goals per game and scoring 3.1 goals per contest.
Chicago is still considered a Stanley Cup contender but they have not been playing like one. The team is fine defensively as they are in the top ten in the league in fewest goals allowed but for some unknown reason the team isn’t scoring any goals. They were actually shutout 1-0 on Sunday at home by Winnipeg.
The teams have split their last ten meetings overall in this series including last year’s action as the Caps won 4-0 at home while the Blackhawks won 6-4 in Chicago. The Blackhawks have won three of the last four at home in this series with the last two going over the NHL betting total.
NHL Picks
We’ll go over the total with the Capitals and Blackhawks on Friday.
More Friday NHL Action
Also on Friday in the NHL it is Edmonton at Buffalo in a game that matches up two of the worst teams in the NHL. The Oilers have shown some signs of life recently so they may be worth a play in this one. The Columbus Blue Jackets visit Carolina and the Jackets should be road favorites against a bad Hurricanes team. The Devils are in Detroit where they almost never win as New Jersey has dropped nine of the last 10 in Detroit. The late game has Arizona in Anaheim to play the Ducks. The Coyotes normally play the Ducks tough but Anaheim is rolling. The under could be the play as the Ducks went under in 10 of their first 13 games this season.
