NHL Wednesday best bets: Capitals out for revenge vs. Ducks

We have six games on the docket for a pretty busy and enticing Wednesday night.

Let's dive into a couple that stand out.

The Carolina Hurricanes and Vegas Golden Knights are strong defensive teams. They forecheck hard, play with a lot of structure, and generally make it quite difficult on opposing teams to work the puck into high-danger areas of the ice. Yet I still see value on the over.

Carolina's a well-oiled machine offensively. Regardless of the opponent, the Hurricanes simply always generate chances in bulk.

They've taken their chance generation to new heights of late, averaging nearly 18 grade A chances per game over the last 10. Unsurprisingly, that total leads the NHL.

I don't see Vegas' goaltending holding up against anywhere close to that level of volume. Adin Hill is projected to get the nod in goal tonight. He enters play having allowed 4.2 goals above expected on the year, which ranks him 39th among the 50 netminders who've played at least 20 games.

While I don't have as much faith in the Golden Knights' offense, they rank in the top half of the league in chance generation over the last 10 games. Shea Theodore recently returned to the lineup, and the addition of Ivan Barbashev up front also gives them a little boost.

They have enough talent to cause problems for Frederik Andersen, who ranks just one spot ahead of Hill in goals saved above expected for the season.

With Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov, Martin Necas, Jack Eichel, and Theodore among the notable weapons taking the ice, I think 5.5 goals is simply too low - especially given the pedestrian goaltending matchup.

Bet: Over 5.5 (-120)

The Washington Capitals' management has punted on the season, recently shipping away solid contributors like Dmitry Orlov, Garnet Hathaway, Marcus Johansson, and Erik Gustafsson to better position themselves for the future.

That being said, there's a difference between management giving up on the year (so to speak) and players doing so.

While the Caps lost some of their depth, they still roster a ton of quality veteran players like Alexander Ovechkin, T.J. Oshie, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Tom Wilson, and Darcy Kuemper.

Those are good, prideful players who'll no doubt continue going full steam ahead. A win over this lowly Anaheim Ducks squad could get them within three points of a playoff spot with 19 games to go. It's still a very manageable task.

The players no doubt know the importance of this game and will be looking for revenge after suffering a defeat at the hands of the Ducks just last week.

Washington allowed an average of more than 43 shots and 4.3 expected goals per game over the last 10. Both totals rank dead last in the NHL. But with plenty of firepower remaining, the Capitals should be able to cause the Ducks' defense all kinds of problems.

At the end of the day, Anaheim has lost 41 of 60 games and shown no signs of improvement analytically.

Odds are - despite their recent struggles - the Capitals get a result here. I like backing them to do it inside 60 minutes.

Bet: Capitals in regulation (-125)

Todd Cordell is a sports betting writer at theScore. Be sure to follow him on Twitter @ToddCordell.

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