Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Washington Capitals Prediction, Preview, Picks & Odds - 4/6/2022

Time: 7 p.m. ET

Venue: Capital One Arena, Washington, DC

Where to watch: TNT

DraftKings: Lightning -140, Capitals +120

BetMGM: Lightning -145, Capitals +120

Caesars: Lightning -135 Capitals +115

Lightning: 43-19-7

Capitals: 37-22-10

Did you ever think in your wildest dreams did you think that the Tampa Bay Lightning and Washington Capitals would be facing each other in a time of which both teams are struggling to get a grasp on playoff positioning? I’m not sure what kind of world we’re living in, but man is it weird.

The first of the national doubleheader on Wednesday features a Tampa Bay team having lost two straight to Canadian teams, including the Toronto Maple Leafs that just blew a 4-1 lead on Tuesday against the Florida Panthers because that’s not just peak Toronto.

The Lightning are coming off a 6-2 loss at home to Toronto in what was one hell of an off night for Andrei Vasilevskiy giving up six goals on 39 shots. Jan Rutta and Nikita Kucherov contributed to the two lone goals that put Tampa on the board and have pushed the two-time Stanley Cup champions down to third in the Atlantic.

All while letting Auston Matthews score a hat trick and continue his goal-scoring dominance.

“We didn't manage our game,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “We were way, way, too easy to play against tonight. It was like a light practice for them. It's too bad because you want to see where you're at. I thought we kind of turned the corner a bit but clearly we haven't.”

That’s about as great of a way to put it. Tampa hasn’t managed its game in the last couple of nights, but the good news is if they’re getting out of this rut now, that’s going to bode well for when the champs get to the playoffs and decide that now is the time to become the eater of worlds again and attempt the 3-peat. And considering the moves the Lightning made at the deadline, doubt them at your own risk. Even if they have to face Toronto or Florida at some point.

But it would appear right now that the Capitals are heading for a prime matchup with the top-seeded Panthers at this rate with Washington sitting at the second wild card in the Eastern Conference. Trying to think of Alex Ovechkin facing the likes of Jonathan Huberdeau and Sasha Barkov, and oh yeah Claude Giroux, just makes my heart jump for glee.

Washington has a bit of an uphill battle to climb considering we need to see some consistency from the Caps after coming off a 5-1 loss to the Minnesota Wild in their last game out. Garnet Hathaway scored the lone goal and the Caps had no answer for Cam Talbot. Trying to solve a pissed off Vasilevskiy on Wednesday doesn’t seem like an ideal kind of situation.

“It's hard to paint it with one brush,” Washington coach Peter Laviolette said. “It wasn't good enough again. Obviously the start. It might've been the only two chances we gave up, but they were mistakes, they were early on, and it's not the way you want to start the game.”

Perhaps going with Vitek Vanecek in net wasn’t the brightest idea for the Caps, but rather holding Ilya Samsonov waiting in the wings for Tampa Bay. The goalie, whoever it is for Washington, is going to be called upon to make the biggest save at the biggest times for the former champs. Ovechkin can score all the goals he wants. He needs a Braden Holtby-like guy to carry them to the finish line. It’s hard to know if that man actually exists.

I’m not quite sure if the Capitals are in a position to play angry hockey right now, but are fine with the position of getting in and seeing what happens soon after. The Lightning, however tired they may be, are not happy with how they blew those two games to Toronto and Montreal. Vasilevskiy is still the best goalie in the world, and even he’s allowed a rough night once in a while. Expecting him to falter twice in a row will not help anyone’s case. Take Tampa in this one. Lightning win 4-2

The Lightning are 11-16 off three overs or more in the past three seasons.

The Lightning are 20-10 this season when playing their third game in five days.

The Capitals are 2-6 this season when playing three games or less in 10 days.

The over is 16-2 when the Capitals revenge a loss against their opponent.

Lightning:

Steven Stamkos -- Brayden Point -- Nikita Kucherov

Ondrej Palat -- Anthony Cirelli -- Alex Killorn

Brandon Hagel -- Ross Colton -- Nicholas Paul

Pat Maroon -- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare -- Corey Perry

Victor Hedman -- Jan Rutta

Mikhail Sergachev -- Erik Cernak

Cal Foote -- Zach Bogosian

Andrei Vasilevskiy

Capitals:

Alex Ovechkin -- Nicklas Backstrom -- Marcus Johansson

Anthony Mantha -- Evgeny Kuznetsov -- T.J. Oshie

Conor Sheary -- Lars Eller -- Tom Wilson

Johan Larsson -- Nic Dowd -- Garnet Hathaway

Martin Fehervary -- John Carlson

Dmitry Orlov -- Nick Jensen

Trevor van Riemsdyk -- Justin Schultz

Ilya Samsonov

Points: Steven Stamkos -- 78

Goals: Steven Stamkos -- 32

Assists: Victor Hedman -- 47

Goalie: Andrei Vasilevskiy -- 35-15-4, 2.44 GAA, .917 SV%

Points: Alex Ovechkin -- 79

Goals: Alex Ovechkin -- 42

Assists: Evgeny Kuznetsov -- 44

Goalie: Ilya Samsonov -- 19-9-4, 2.95 GAA, .899 SV%