NHL: Florida Panthers vs Washington Capitals odds, picks, and predictions

On Thursday night, the Washington Capitals and the Florida Panthers will square off in game two of their NHL playoffs first-round series at FLA Live Arena in Tampa, Fla. In-game two, the Washington Capitals will look to upset the Carolina Panthers and take an early 2-0 series lead after opening the series with a 4-2 victory against the Panthers in game one last time out on the ice. In the first period, Tom Wilson scored for the Capitals just under four minutes into the game, before Florida's Sam Bennett tied the game at one with just over two minutes left to play in the first period.

In the first minute of the second period, Claude Giroux put the Panthers ahead for good, and that lead would hold up for the rest of the period and for the first half of the third period before Evgeny Kuznetsov tied the game for the Capitals at two goals apiece. T.J. Oshie scored to give Washington the lead back just 2:23 later, and the Caps would seal the victory with an empty-net goal from Lars Eller in the final minute to stun Florida and win the season opener. After stopping 30 of his 32 shots faced in the winning effort, Vitek Vanecek earned the victory in goal for Washington. Sergei Bobrovsky suffered the defeat in goal for Florida after allowing three goals on 37 shots faced in the loss.

Against winning teams, Washington has gone 1-4 in their last five games overall and 1-4 in their last five games against teams with winning records, while the over has gone 11-4 in their previous 15 road games. While playing as a home favorite, Florida is 44-8 in their previous 52 games and 40-14 in their last 54 games overall, while the under is 4-1 in their last 5 games when playing against a team with a winning record.

Florida Panthers vs Washington Capitals predictions

My Pick: Washington Capitals