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The Capitals-Bruins line for Saturday April 21, 2012 was coming in at Boston -190 at Belmont.com. Be sure to claim your FREE CASH bonus when you join here today.
The Boston Bruins couldn’t solve rookie goalie Braden Holtby in Game 4 as the Caps netminder stopped 44 of 45 shots he faced en route to the 2-1 victory. That notched the series at two games apiece as they now play a best two-of-three with Boston having home ice advantage.
Belmont line and total: Boston -190 and 5
Boston peppered Holtby with everything they had in Game 4 and are looking to crack him in Game 5 early and often. The 3 pm start won’t affect the Bruins too much as they played 17 afternoon games over the course of the year and went 7-10 SU in those contests. They actually played the Caps twice in those 14 matinee games as the teams split with the visitor winning each time. While that doesn’t exactly perpetuate a lot of confidence for Bruins backers in this one, you have to believe that some of those shots will finally get through Holtby.
However, what bettors can take from those all those previous afternoon contests the Bruins played is that the average amount of combined goals in those 17 games was a whopping 5.82 and the total for this one is set at 5. The Caps know they can’t rely on Holtby to stand on his head every night and with Backstrom back in the lineup for this one, their offense should get the kick in the pants it needs. They won 4-3 in TD Garden in that aforementioned afternoon game vs. the Bruins and if they can’t put in at least another 2 by Thomas, they are likely to head back home down in the series once again.
The first two games in Boston during this series saw plenty of defense and then both teams opened it up in Game 3. I’m expecting a similar performance in this one as both teams fight to win that crucial Game 5 and put the other on the brink of elimination. I wouldn’t want to lay that price with the Bruins considering they are now 0-2 SU in afternoon games vs. Washington after the Game 2 loss, nor would I want to back the Caps here given that Holtby is likely to regress a bit. Instead, I’m going with the over as these teams go back and forth in a game similar to Game 3.
Take the over.
- Matt Skinner, Gambling911.com
