Florida Panthers at Washington Capitals, NHL forecast
The short version
- No betting line is up yet, so this is our pre-line forecast: the Capitals at 56%, from our Elo ratings and what past lines said about each team. It switches to the line once one posts.
- Behind that number: the Capitals have home ice.
What's at stake
Each team's chance to make the playoffs if it wins this game and if it loses, from 10,000 simulations of the rest of the season.
Panthers
Now 49%
54%
with a win
45%
with a loss
This game is worth 9 points of playoff chance to them.
Capitals
Now 63%
67%
with a win
58%
with a loss
This game is worth 8 points of playoff chance to them.
The pick
No line is posted yet, so this is the pre-line forecast: Elo blended with ratings learned from past lines. It switches to the line once one is posted.
Capitals 56%
Forecast Elo ratings alone
How often that comes true: NHL favorites the forecast gave 55–60% have won 56.4% of 1,035 graded games.
- Market
- No line yet
- Pre-line forecast
- WSH 56%
- Elo + market-implied
- Elo ratings
- WSH 57%
- Fair odds
- WSH -127
- FLA +127 · the forecast as odds, no margin
- Projected score
- FLA 3.0 – 3.3 WSH
- Margin from the forecast, total from team scoring ratings
How the number is built
Elo inputs in rating points (higher favors that team; 25–28 Elo is about a point of spread in football and basketball), then how the pieces combine.
| Factor | FLA | WSH | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Team rating | 1511 | 1526 | Elo entering the game; 1500 is league average |
| Home field | — | +35 | Worth 35 Elo in the NHL |
| Starting goalies | — | — | FLA: Starter not announced · WSH: Starter not announced |
| Elo ratings | WSH +50 Elo | WSH 57.1% | |
| Market-implied ratings | WSH 55.7% | Team strength as past closing lines priced it, same game context | |
| Pre-line forecast | WSH 56.0% | 20% Elo, 80% market-implied (log-odds blend) | |
Tale of the tape
This season coming into the game, regular season, each number with its league rank (the longer the bar, the higher). Home and road: the host's record at home against the visitor's on the road. Overtime and shootout losses count as losses in these records. Opponent Elo: how strong the teams each has played are, 1st the toughest. Shot share is a team's share of the shots on goal in its games. PDO adds shooting and save percentages: far from 100 tends to even out.
| FLA | Stat | WSH |
|---|---|---|
| 16th of 323.2 | Goals scored | 3.59th of 32 |
| 9th of 322.9 | Goals allowed | 3.320th of 32 |
| 12th of 32+0.2 | Margin | +0.213th of 32 |
| 7th of 3253.1% | Shot share | 49.5%15th of 32 |
| 15th of 3289.2% | Save percentage | 88.8%20th of 32 |
| 14th of 325–5 | Last 10 | 7–32nd of 32 |
| 16th of 326–7 | Road vs home | 7–412th of 32 |
| 30th of 321485 | Opponent Elo | 15213rd of 32 |
| 14th of 321511 | Elo rating | 152611th of 32 |
Rating history
Each team's Elo over the last two seasons. Hover or drag to compare on any date.
Injury report
Current ESPN report. Elo values show what the model subtracts.
Panthers
4 listedSandis Vilmanis LW
OutVilmanis (undisclosed) will probably miss a few games, according to George Richards of Florida Hockey Now on Saturday.
Brad Marchand LW
Injured ReserveHead coach Paul Maurice said Friday that Marchand (knee) will travel with the Panthers during their upcoming three-game road trip, Jameson Olive of the Panthers' official site reports.
Aleksander Barkov C
Injured ReserveHead coach Paul Maurice said Friday that Barkov (knee) will travel with the Panthers during their upcoming three-game road trip, Jameson Olive of the Panthers' official site reports.
Jonah Gadjovich LW
Injured ReserveGadjovich (upper body) is out indefinitely, the team announced Thursday.
Capitals
3 listedRasmus Sandin D
Injured ReserveSandin (knee) will be with the Capitals for their two-game road trip, Tarik El-Bashir of Monumental Sports Network reports Monday.
Vincent Desharnais D
Injured Reserveir
Patrick Thomas C
Injured Reserveir-nr
Recent form
Last five results, and whether the forecast hit.
Against the line
How each team has done against the closing spread and total, coming into this game.
| This season |  FLA |  WSH |
|---|---|---|
| Puck line | 7–10 | 7–8 |
| Last 10 | 5–5 | 4–6 |
| Favorite | 5–7 | 4–5 |
| Underdog | 2–3 | 3–3 |
| Overs–unders | 7–10 | 9–6 |
| Overs–unders, last 10 | 4–6 | 6–4 |
Against each game's closing line. Books set every line knowing these records: across 3,901 past games, the team with the better record against the spread so far that season covered 51.2%, short of the 52.4% a standard −110 bet needs, and over/under streaks held 48.0% of the time. They describe the past.
Head to head
FLA 6–4 WSH in their last 10 meetings; the forecast called 6 of 10.