The Washington Capitals will travel to Montreal, Quebec to face the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre on Saturday evening at 7:00 PM ET.

Washington enters this game with a record of 1-2 following a 1-6 loss on the road against the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday. The Capitals scored one goal with John Carlson accounting for the goal against the Senators. Alex Ovechkin recorded an assist against Ottawa in the loss. Darcy Kuemper struggled as the starting goalie for the Washington Capitals against the Ottawa Senators with 23 saves off of 29 shots on goal with a .793 save percentage while allowing six goals in a loss. 

The Washington Capitals are averaging 1.33 goals per game while allowing an average of 4 goals per game this season. John Carlson and Matthew Phillips are tied for the team lead in points with 2 points apiece. John Carlson, Connor McMichael, and Matthew Phillips are tied for the team lead in goals with a goal apiece this season. John Carlson, Sonny Milano, Alex Ovechkin, Matthew Phillips, and Tom Wilson are tied for the team lead in assists with an assist apiece on the year. Darcy Kuemper will be the starting goalie for the Washington Capitals when they travel to face the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday. Kuemper is 1-1 this season with a .884 save percentage while allowing an average of 3.84 goals per game.

The Montreal Canadiens enter this game with a record of 1-1-1 following a 2-5 loss at home against the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday. Montreal scored two goals with Alex Newhook and Tanner Pearson accounting for the two goals. Cole Caufield and David Savard had an assist apiece against the Wild. Sam Montembeault had 30 saves off of 35 shots on goal with a .857 save percentage while allowing 5 goals in the loss against the Minnesota Wild. 

The Montreal Canadiens are averaging 3.33 goals per game this season with a 9.1 power play success rate while allowing an average of 4.33 goals per game with a 73.7% penalty-kill percentage. Cole Caufield and Alex Newhook are tied for the team lead in points this season with 3 points apiece. Alex Newhook leads the team in goals with 3 goals this season. Kirby Dach and Rafael Harvey-Pinard are tied for the team lead in assists with 2 assists apiece on the year. Jake Allen will get the start for the Montreal Canadiens when they host the Washington Capitals on Saturday. Allen is 0-0-1 on the year with a .881 save percentage while allowing an average of 4.62 goals per game.

BookMaker has the Washington Capitals listed as -130 moneyline favorites on the road against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday. Washington is 7–2-1 in the last ten and has won two of the last three meetings while winning by an average margin of 1.4 goals per game over the last ten and 1.67 goals per game over the last three games in the series.

Both starting goalies have struggled this season as both are allowing over an average of 3.5 goals per game with Darcy Kuemper allowing an average of 3.84 goals per game while Jake Allen is allowing an average of 4.62 goals per game. The over has been the trend in the series going 7-2-1 in the last ten and hitting in two of the last three matchups. Given the struggles both goalies have had this season, I look for the trend to continue in this matchup which is why I am taking the over 6.5 goals for this matchup when the Washington Capitals travel to face the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday evening.