Let's get the easy question out of the way: do I think the Capitals win tonight? I do not. Do I think they lose as often as the betting market suggests? No I do not. Here we are; having our hand forced with a price that's run too far in a game poised to be tight checking and low scoring. Carolina is a difficult out and Freddie Andersen has played at a high level all series but that's not stopping us from taking a small stab on the road dog here anything north of +205

Many good Washington scoring chances went sideways in Saturday's Game 3 loss when Carolina's Freddy Andersen recorded his fourth-career shutout, but the Caps, especially Alex Ovechkin, aren't going to continue missing gilt-edges chances. Washington has done a better job pushing the puck up the ice since Game 1, but has to take advantage of its opportunities. Fortunately, Logan Thomson has mostly been solid in goal in this series, with Carolina emphasizing quantity over quality for its shots on net. Ricochets and bank shots off defenders can happen when putting the puck on net, but the Canes haven't been looking all that efficient on attack in this series, either. Close one in Raleigh! Play Caps on Puck Line

No mistaking the pattern thus far of this series...it's been lower-scoring. The problem for the Caps is that they're not the ones doing the most scoring, at least in Games 1 and 3, and have only four goals total in the first three games. Hemmed into their own end for most of Game 1, and flustered by the Carolina forecheck in Game 3, Washington hasn't been spending enough time in the O-zone, and Canes keeper Freddy Andersen is off of his fourth career playoff shutout on Saturday. Meanwhile, Carolina is still mostly just spraying shots toward Logan Thompson in the Caps goal, hoping for something to happen, and has been generally inefficient on attack in this series despite holding a 2-1 lead. Play Caps-Canes Under